The Ministry of Corporate Affairs on Wednesday imposed fines on Microsoft-owned LinkedIn India, Satya Nadella and eight others for violating the relevant beneficial ownership requirements under company law.

Satya Nadella is the CEO of Microsoft, which acquired the professional networking platform LinkedIn in December 2016.

In a 63-page order, the Registrar of Companies (NCT of Delhi & Haryana) said LinkedIn India and the individuals had violated the Significant Beneficial Owner (SBO) norms under the Companies Act, 2013.

“…Satya Nadella and Ryan Roslansky are the SBOs in respect of the company concerned and are subject to penalty under Section 90(10) of the Act for failing to report under Section 90(1). Ryan Roslansky was appointed as the global CEO of LinkedIn Corporation on June 1, 2020 and started reporting to Satya Nadella,” said the order issued by the RoC, which is under the ministry.

Section 90 of the Act deals with SBO. It requires companies to disclose SBO details.

According to the order, the company and its officers must be held liable for failing to take the necessary steps to identify the SBO in relation to the company.

The RoC has imposed penalties totalling Rs 27,10,800 on LinkedIn Technology Information Pvt Ltd or LinkedIn India, Satya Nadella, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky and seven others.

For violating the SBO norms, LinkedIn India was fined Rs 7 lakh. Satya Nadella and Roslansky were fined Rs 2 lakh each.

Others who were fined include Keith Ranger Dolliver, Benjamin Owen Orndorff, Michelle Katty Leung, Lisa Emiko Sato, Ashutosh Gupta, Mark Leonard Nadres Legaspi and Henry Chining Fong.

“In addition, the company and its executives have not even sent a notice [which was mandatorily required to be sent] under Rule 2A(2) of the Companies (Significant Beneficial Owners) Rules, 2018, thereby giving rise to an offence under Section 90(5) for which penalty is provided under Section 450. All the officers, including the non-executive directors, are liable for this offence on the basis of a presumption that each such director has clear knowledge of the holding structure of the company,” it said.

LinkedIn India was founded as a subsidiary of the Microsoft Group.

The order may be appealed to the Regional Director (NR) within 60 days of receipt of this order.

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