Sridhar Vembu Positioned Zoho As Indian Alternative To Microsoft, Google's Productivity Tools. He's Now In A Soup Over A Bitter Divorce Battle

• Vembu launched his career as a wireless engineer at Qualcomm after obtaining a PhD from Princeton University in the 1990s.
• The Zoho co-founder has positioned Zoho’s offerings as alternatives to those from Microsoft and Google.
• In a post on X last year, Vembu said Zoho is the only company in the world that can take on Microsoft in terms of the breadth and depth of its product suite.

Zoho Corp. co-founder Sridhar Vembu is embroiled in a contentious divorce dispute with his ex-wife, and a new report states that he was asked in January 2025 to furnish a $1.7 billion bond.

According to a report by The News Minute citing an order by a California court, a receiver has been appointed to safeguard the rights of Vembu’s ex-wife, Pramila Srinivasan.

“The record in this case demonstrates that Petitioner (Sridhar) has acted without regard for Respondent’s (Pramila’s) interests in community assets and without regard for the law,” the court’s order stated, according to the report.

Vembu and his wife were together for 29 years. In an interview with Forbes in 2023, Srinivasan stated that Vembu abandoned her and their son with special needs in 2020.

The Disputed Transaction

According to the report, the transaction in dispute is the transfer of the U.S.-based Zoho Corp.'s business, a wholly owned subsidiary of the India-based Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd., to an entity owned by Vembu’s associate, Tony Thomas.

Vembu’s ex-wife alleged that the Zoho co-founder transferred his stake in the company to his family members without obtaining her permission. However, Vembu refuted these allegations in a post on X, stating that “much of what constitutes the company was built in India.”

Vembu’s US Roots

Vembu launched his career as a wireless engineer at Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) after obtaining a PhD from Princeton University in the 1990s. He founded AdventNet along with two of his siblings in 1996, focusing on providing software services to network equipment providers.

AdventNet was renamed to Zoho in 2009, and ten years later, Vembu moved from the U.S. to India. Two years after moving countries, the Zoho co-founder filed for divorce.

Alternative To Microsoft, Google Services

Vembu, who has positioned his company Zoho’s offerings as Indian alternatives to those from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google, has collaborated with the Indian government to offer Zoho’s email and other productivity tools.

“We are the only company in the world that can take on Microsoft in the breadth and depth of the product suite. Our products offer a vastly superior experience to Microsoft, please take a good look!” Vembu said in a post on X in 2025.

Zoho also offers alternatives to Google’s services, such as Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and other workspace tools.

Microsoft shares declined 0.4% in Wednesday’s pre-market trade, while Alphabet’s Class A shares gained 0.7%. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around both companies trended in the ‘neutral’ territory at the time of writing.

Also See: Will Trump Take Control Of Greenland? Here's What Bettors On Prediction Markets Think

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