Grab (formerly known as GrabTaxi), one of the largest technology startup in Singapore, is currently being sued by its former Chief Technology Officer.
According to a report on Straits Times, Mr Wei Zhu, the CTO at the taxi booking app, claims that he is owed around S$2.3 million in shares following his departure last year.
Prior to joining Grab, Mr Wei Zhu headed up the Facebook engineering team that developed Facebook Connect. He joined Grab in 2014, and departed a year after being its CTO. As the CTO, Mr Wei Zhu was charged with the development and execution of new technologies, in addition to planning for risk and growth. Mr Wei Zhu told Digital News Asia too that his role also evolved to help the company scale and build innovative products.
“It is time for me to move on to explore new adventures in life. I would like to thank our founder Anthony Tan and the team of passionate and amazing fellow Grabbers for sharing this ride of a lifetime!” Zhu wrote on his Facebook post.
While the departure was peaceful, Mr Wei Zhu had qualms on the share issue offer that was included as part of his employment package.
While we don’t have the full story from Mr Wei Zhu, here’s what we know from the Straits Times Report:
- Grab offered to issue him 22,566 ordinary shares for his departure.
- The offer came with a series of restrictions, which were not indicated in the original employment terms.
- The original employment package for Mr Wei Zhu was for a period of 4 years.
Mr Wei Zhu is currently seeking his entitlement to equity compensation under his employment terms, totalling to over S$2.3 million. A High Court pre-trial conference was held yesterday, and a hearing on his application is due next week.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Wei Zhu is currently the cofounder of FinTech startup Prosecure.me.
