Girish Mathrubootham Sells Freshworks Shares Worth $40 Mn

Nasdaq-listed SaaS major Freshworks’ founder and executive chairman Girish Mathrubootham has sold 2.5 Mn shares of the company worth approximately $40 Mn. 

According to Freshworks’ filings with the SEC, Mathrubootham sold his stake in two tranches. On December 18, the former CEO sold 8.35 Lakh shares for $134.27 Mn and then sold 1.66 Mn shares for $260.74 Mn on December 19. 

Post the sale, Mathrubootham’s total stake in the company has reduced to 232.98 Mn shares. 

The development comes months after Mathrubootham stepped down from his role as the CEO of the SaaS giant. He was succeeded by Freshwork’s president Dennis Woodside. 

“As Freshworks’ founder and single largest shareholder, Girish has had pre-established trading plans, adopted pursuant to SEC Rule 10b5-1, to diversify his financial investments since becoming a public company. Girish remains the largest individual shareholder of Freshworks,” a Freshworks spokesperson said on the latest development. 

“Girish owns roughly 4% of the company and still remains the largest individual holder of Freshworks stock with high voting power. This sale was planned ahead of time as part of his long-term financial diversification strategy,” the spokesperson added.

The latest development also comes nearly a month after it was reported that WestBridge Capital Management dumped 2% of its stake in Freshworks during the July-September period. WestBridge owned 13.6 Mn shares of Freshworks at the end of June 2024, which fell to 13.3 Mn at the end of September.

On the financial front, Freshworks trimmed its consolidated net loss by 3.5% to $29.95 Mn in the third quarter of 2024 from $31.03 Mn in the year-ago period. Total revenue jumped 21.4% to $186.6 Mn in the quarter ended September 30, 2024 from $153.6 Mn in the same quarter last year.

The company also said then that it would lay off 660 employees, or roughly 13% of its workforce. Along with this, it announced a stock buyback programme worth $400 Mn of its outstanding Class A common stock.

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