Ola Electric shares tank 8% after CEO’s spat with comedian over ‘service deficiencies’

Shares of Ola Electric Mobility fell 8.31% to close at ₹90.82 on the BSE on Monday, a day after its founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal sparred with stand up comedian Kunal Kamra over service deficiencies affecting thousands of Ola electric scooter owners.

The stock, which was down at about 1% in the morning trading hours, fell sharply to about 9%, but gradually recovered towards closing hours.

“Stock back to ₹90 as the CEO “Meltsdown” on social media in a spat with a stand up comedian (for whom it was good publicity). IPO price is coming sooner than later,” research analyst Sandeep Sabharwal said on X.

Ola Electric, which recently tapped the capital market with an initial public offering, had issued shares at ₹76.

“In today’s market, mid and small cap stocks bore the maximum brunt and Ola is no exception. Besides this, the company’s service deficiencies came into limelight and the company’s management has also widely accepted this,” said Arun Kejriwal, founder, Kejriwal Research & Investment Services.

“What is more alarming is the lack of demand for the company’s products. Sales have dropped in the past two months and market viewed it negatively,” he added. 

On Sunday, Mr. Kamra had posted a picture of a service centre with several Ola electric scooters piled up for repairs. “Anyone who has an issue with OLA electric leave your story below tagging all…” he had posted. To this, Mr. Aggarwal reacted angrily by saying “Since you care so much @kunalkamra88, come and help us out! I’ll even pay more than you earned for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career.” “Or else sit quiet and let us focus on fixing the issues for the real customers. We’re expanding service network fast and backlogs will be cleared soon,” he had posted on X.

A back and forth followed, attracting more social media attention. Several netizens had slammed Mr. Aggarwal, calling him “arrogant”.

Overall, S&P BSE Sensex was down 638 points, or 0.78%, to 81, 050, owing to escalating geopolitical tension in West Asia.

Published - October 07, 2024 07:49 pm IST