Clarification and apology regarding Oyo

Dear readers,

On 16 May, we published a story alleging that Ritesh Agarwal is stepping down as the CEO of Oyo. Following that, we’ve received statements from Oyo and SoftBank Vision Fund denying this.

I made the call to publish the story after a discussion with the reporter. I also made the call to pull it soon after. In our haste to publish a story that was time-sensitive, it became apparent that while we based our story on trusted sources, we failed to perform a couple of steps that are essential in verifying sensitive information.

As such, I would like to apologize to Oyo, its shareholders, and employees for the trouble caused. I would also like to apologize for letting down our readers who trust us as a source of news.

Moving forward, we will revisit and improve our editorial process for sensitive stories, including updating our non-negotiable checklist built upon our existing best practices.

Our editorial mission and direction remain the same. We recognize the weight that our articles carry, and there is little room for error. We will do better.

Cheers,

Terence