TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mr. Sayan Navaratnam announced last week that he would be stepping down as Chairman and CEO of Facedrive Inc. Below is a letter from him to all fellow shareholders.
It was with a heavy heart that I earlier announced my resignation from Facedrive Inc. as of September 1, 2021. Serving as CEO of this truly transformational company has been a great privilege.
At its inception, Facedrive was seen by some as simply a sustainable ridesharing business. I saw something far more disruptive and transformational: an untapped ESG technology platform that could leverage mobility and logistical technology to bring consumers together and move the world forward. I was drawn to the idea of Facedrive as a platform for environmental change. I wanted to be part of building a business that championed the idea that we can create successful businesses that operate in a way that is accountable to the planet.
During the two years of public markets operation, the incredibly innovative and dedicated Facedrive team completed numerous transactions to evolve and grow the business. Everyone on the team worked tirelessly. Weekends didn’t exist. Holidays were few and far in between. We all knew we were building something special. I also invited many of the key executives from other companies with which I am involved to assist with building the Facedrive business; all of them did so with no compensation.
Facedrive transformed from an eco-friendly rideshare company to an ESG platform with five connected offerings. Facedrive built out a food delivery service through its acquisitions of Food Highway and Foodora, and later expanded this to offer last-mile logistical services. Facedrive built out its electric vehicle subscription business through its acquisition of Steer from Exelon. Facedrive created and grew its health services business through the development of a market leading contact tracing technology. Each of these initiatives was a culmination of my original vision, but was also accelerated by the pandemic’s impact on the ridesharing business.
During this same two-year period, members of the executive team, founding shareholders, and key early investors—with the exception of Mr. Imran Khan—continuously and voluntarily agreed to extend their share lock-up agreements. Investors received no consideration for these voluntary lock-up extensions. We, as a team, wanted to send a clear message that we believe in the long-term success of Facedrive and have no intention of selling shares during its early years. I did my best to lead by example. I continued to voluntarily lock up my shares. I refused a salary or stock based compensation and I refused reimbursement for company-related expenses. As a team, we have always been in it for the long term and believed that, in time, the company would become characterized by a stable and reliably traded stock. We were happy to keep our heads down, put in the work, and reap the rewards at the right time.
Late last year, I commenced an action in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Mr. Khan, in which I dispute his ownership of a considerable number of Facedrive shares. If I am successful, I intend to donate these shares to several charities that I support. After I commenced the action, Mr. Khan advised that he had no intention of selling shares in Facedrive. Despite this representation, Mr. Khan later publicly announced a plan to sell Facedrive shares. Since that announcement, Mr. Khan has sold hundreds of thousands of Facedrive shares and made millions of dollars. Naturally, this has had a dramatic impact on the stock value and has caused it to trend negatively almost every day thereafter. I learned last week that Mr. Khan intends to divest a further 786,000 shares. All of this while management felt fundamentals and execution of our vision are stronger and better than ever.
Mr. Khan’s decision to sell his shares has put his own interests ahead of those of Facedrive’s investors, employees and partners. Mr. Khan is making millions of dollars when the people that actually built the business voluntarily restricted their ability to sell.
Mr. Khan’s decision to sell such a significant volume of shares has forced the hands of Facedrive’s other investors. Given Mr. Khan’s conduct, Facedrive Inc. announced earlier that it is offering to release investors from all voluntary lock-up agreements. Such investors are expected to become, subject to their contractual restrictions and financial and legal advice, free from any voluntary lock up extension.
I believe my decision best serves the interests of Facedrive and its shareholders. I have absolute faith in the management team to execute on our vision and remain the largest shareholder. However, I will not allow my pursuit of Mr. Khan to conflict with or distract from the business of Facedrive. I cannot, in good conscience, allow hundreds of employees to work tirelessly, investors to patiently hold their positions, and management to continue building the business, while the one person least responsible for it all cashes out. As such, I intend to dedicate my resources, time and energy to bringing Mr. Khan to justice. He must be held accountable.