Byju’s is not my work; it is my life: Byju Raveendran tells shareholders

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With Byju’s problem still festering, the company called a shareholder meeting on Saturday, June 24, to clear all doubts.

While with approximately 75 shareholders, Raveendran updates that Byju has personal investments, and the company’s valuation is sound at $22 billion. He also admitted his past mistakes and assured contributors that what he had learned far outweighed any mistakes.

According to sources familiar with the shareholder meeting, he highlighted his personal investments in the company, including $400m in the parent company, $250m to acquire Akash, and an additional $250m through secondary shares pledged for the latest funding round. “It was also mentioned that all the secondary employees were reinvested in the company at a valuation of $22 billion,” the source said.

The crisis at Byju reached a new level as the statutory auditor, Deloitte Haskins & Sell, resigned due to the delay in the financial statements. This was followed by the resignation of three board members from Prosus, Peak XV Partners and the Chang Zuckerberg Initiative.

The members of the board of directors, who had resigned, were also present at the meeting, and the three shared their reasons and confirmed their resignations. Ravindran also informed the shareholders that the company has not yet accepted the resignations.

The three board members assured shareholders that they would work with the company in the transitional period, and added that the auditor was causing delays and complications in the results.

Ravindran also told shareholders that discussions have been underway for several weeks regarding reconfiguring the board of directors to enhance operations and align with the company’s ambitions.

Meanwhile, Ajay Goel, Group Chief Financial Officer, shared the timeline of the financial results. According to sources, Joel committed to closing the FY22 audit by the end of September and the FY23 audit by the end of December.

“He informed the shareholders that the audit of most of the subsidiaries for the fiscal year 22 has been completed,” the source added.

Also in the meeting, Roshan Thomas, Group General Counsel, assured the shareholders that constructive negotiations are under way on the term loan for B, and the company hopes for a speedy resolution.