Now, Rahul Yadav asks Zomato, Ola chiefs to give away their shares

Housing.com CEO takes social media by storm with a post on Facebook, tagging Bhavish Aggarwal and Deepinder Goyal, urging them to follow in his footsteps

Like him or hate him, but you can't ignore him. Rahul Yadav, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Housing.com, is in the news again. This time, the 26-year-old has challenged fellow Indian Institute of Technology alumni, Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola and Deepinder Goyal of Zomato, to disburse at least half their shares in their companies to their respective employees.

Earlier this week, Yadav had decided to allot all his personal shares, worth Rs 150-200 crore, to the 2,251 employees of his company.

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On Friday, Yadav took social media by storm with a post on Facebook, tagging Aggarwal (Ola co-founder and CEO) and Goyal (Zomato co-founder and CEO), urging them to follow in his footsteps. "Now, I challenge Deepinder Goyal of Zomato and Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola to continue this noble act and give away HALF (not full) THEIR SHARES to their employees. And, I hope both of them spread the nominations further (smile emoticon) ·#·PEOPLE_are_the_WHY," said Yadav's Facebook post.

Goyal took the comment with a pinch of salt, saying, "awww..so cute". Aggarwal joined him, posting "give this man (referring to Yadav) a cookie (with US President Barack Obama's picture)".

Yadav had resigned from Housing.com on April 30, after questioning the intellectual abilities of the company's investors in an email. On May 5, however, he apologised and withdrew his resignation.

In the past fortnight, Yadav has been making headlines with his quirky approach over boardroom meetings and flip-flop over resignation from the company. He has also been involved in a war of words over investors dictating terms in running the company. It isn't often such a trend is witnessed in India's fast-growing e-commerce/new-age companies, or in India Inc for that matter.

When contacted, both Goyal and Aggarwal refused to comment on Yadav's post, as well as the fact that they were tagged in it.

While some in the start-up system are hailing Yadav, others feel his comment could have been avoided, as the matter concerns someone else's personal wealth. "He is a young guy and thinks the world is changing in certain ways. We have to wait and watch if he is on the right path," said an analyst tracking the company.

Japan's SoftBank is the largest shareholder in Housing.com, with a stake of about 30 per cent. Nexus Venture Partners owns 19 per cent stake in the company.