Byju Raveendran is acting in a more desperate manner to maintain the company’s viability.
Prosus NV and Peak XV Partners, two of Byju’s largest investors, voted on Friday to remove the company’s founder from his position as CEO, intensifying the conflict over the future of the formerly successful online tutoring startup that is struggling to stay in business.
The company said in a statement on Friday that Byju’s had rejected the resolutions, which also attempted to remove Byju Raveendran from the board of the business he created in 2015.
“The resolutions passed during the recently concluded extraordinary general meeting – attended by a small cohort of select shareholders – are invalid and ineffective,” mentioned in a statement.
According to two people who attended, the shareholders made their choice following a boisterous, hour-long Zoom session for investors and management on Friday that many Byju’s employees attempted to disrupt. The people, who wished to remain anonymous because they were having a private conversation, claimed that unidentified attendees attempted multiple times to sabotage the meeting’s activities by making loud sounds and whistling.
After the company failed to make an interest payment on a $1.2 billion debt, the pioneer of online education, Byju’s, and its creditors have been embroiled in a protracted restructuring dispute. The default resulted in the company’s unit filing for bankruptcy in the US.
After growing the company too quickly during the pandemic, Raveendran, whose rise from tutor to the head of a once $22 billion corporation, charmed a nation enamored of charismatic digital entrepreneurs. Now, he is resorting to increasingly desperate methods to keep the company viable. When demand for online tutoring declined as schools resumed, Byju’s was taken off balance.
In order to obtain money for staff salaries, Raveendran has pledged his home and those held by his family members, and some board members have resigned. In order to acquire money, it is also offering fresh stock for sale at a discount of almost 90% from its previous investment round.
