BENGALURU: Employees of Mindtree bade adieu to the company’s founders as Krishnakumar Natarajan, N S Parthasarathy and Rostow Ravanan served their last working day at the tech services company. Employees also expressed their gratitude for the contribution the founders had in turning Mindtree into a $1 billion company during the past two decades. The new management led by L&T, which owns more than 60% stake in the company, will take over beginning August 1. Many employees took it to Twitter to express their feelings about the journey of Mindtree founders. “The End of one beautiful era!!! Thanks for making Mindtree a strong and Successful company !!!Wishing you best for your personal and future endeavors!! @kknatarajan @RostowRavanan @nspartha,” tweeted a Mindtree employee on Wednesday afternoon and posted a video of the Natarajan and Parthasarathy saying goodbye to the employees. Another employee said the founders were the “soul” of the company. “Adieu to the real Pillars, the soul of #mindtree @nspartha & @kknatarajan The founders may have left #mindtree but not hearts of thousands of minds who stand teary eyed today. All the best @RostowRavanan, @nspartha , @kknatarajan, @GardenerMind,” she tweeted. A Mindtree executive told ET that the founders held a townhall on Wednesday to thank employees and gave a farewell speech at its headquarters in Bengaluru. “While employees offered their heartfelt wishes for their next journey, and thanked for taking Mindtree to $1 billion revenue mark,” she said.Another employee said their journey was inspiring. “Has there been a more humble founding team than @kknatarajan @nspartha @GardenerMind @RostowRavanan A true inspiration for generations; a true testament to the fact that nice guys can also finish first. Best wishes for your next journey,” he said in Tweet. L&T acquired 60.06% stake in Mindtree early this month and became the promoter. Mindtree’s board had last month approved three seats for L&T senior leaders – chief executive and managing director S N Subrahmanyan, J D Patil, senior executive vice president for L&T’ defence business and Ramamurthi Shankar Raman, chief financial officer, L&T – effective July 16. L&T takeover bid started when the company entered into a deal to buy Cafe Coffee Day owner VG Siddhartha’s 20.32% and it was followed by an open offer.