A group of investors of Byju’s, the edtech major are seeking to oust the top brass of the company led by Byju Raveendran, saying they are ‘deeply concerned’ about future stability under the current leadership.
- Also read:Byju’s launches rights issue to raise $200 million from existing investors at $230-$250 mn valuation
The investors are seeking an EGM to adopt resolutions on outstanding governance, financial mismanagement and compliance issues; they are also seeking reconstitution of the Board of Directors, so that it is no longer controlled by the founders of Byju’s parent company Think & Learn and they are seeking a change in leadership of the company.
Currently, the company’s board consists of founder and CEO Byju Raveendran himself, his co-founder and wife Divya Gokulnath, and his brother Riju Ravindran, following the departure of other members last year.
This is the first instance of shareholders banding together to issue a statement seeking a change of guard at the company. However, this is the third time the investors are issuing an EGM notice.
“The issuance of this EGM notice follows many months of continued efforts by shareholders to engage with the company to address persistent issues relating to corporate governance, mismanagement and compliance. These efforts have been ongoing following the resignation from the board in June 2023 of directors nominated by Prosus and other shareholders,” the investor group said in a statement on Thursday.
While the investor group was grateful for the efforts of the independent advisory council in addressing some of the looming challenges facing Think & Learn, it was also “...deeply concerned about the future stability of the company under its current leadership and with the current constitution of the Board,” the note added.
Recently, businessline had reported that investors have expressed reservations over the company’s founder Byju Raveendran’s involvement in the day-to-day running of the company.
Former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar and ex-Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai are part of Byju’s board advisory council. They joined the council in July following the resignation of investors Prosus, Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India) and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
On January 29, Byju’s had kicked off a $200 million fundraise via rights issue starting on January 29 at valuation between $230-$250million, which is significantly lower than the company’s last funding round which happened at a valuation of $22 billion, reported businessline.