I’m still the CEO, management remains unchanged: Byju

EDTECH company Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran on Saturday refuted reports of being fired from the company, saying such rumours were greatly exaggerated and he remains at the helm.

In an email sent to employees and accessed by IANS, Byju Raveendran said that the management remains unchanged, the Board remains the same and the rights issue has “seen an overwhelming response.”

His reaction came a day after key shareholders in Byju’s like Prosus NV and Peak XV Partners voted to oust him as CEO at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), saying that the stakeholders “unanimously passed all resolutions put forward for a vote.”

In the email to staff, Byju Raveendran said that it was “business as usual” at the company.

“Just as you can’t change the rules of a game midway without agreement from all players, we can’t alter how our company is run without following these strict guidelines. At the EGM, a lot of these essential rules were violated. This means that whatever was decided in that meeting does not count, because it didn’t stick to the established rules,” he wrote.

Byju Raveendran claimed that the EGM was convened without following the proper procedure set out by the law and the Company’s Articles of Association.

“Only 35 out of 170 shareholders (representing around 45 per cent of shareholding) voted in favour of the resolution. That in itself shows the very limited support that this irrelevant meeting received,” said Byju’s CEO.

Additionally, he said the Karnataka High Court had granted interim relief, “clearly stating that any decisions made during the meeting would not be given effect until resolution.”

He said that regardless of this “uncalled-for drama”, the management was devoting its full attention to the company’s operations.

The EGM was called by select investors to oust Byju Raveendran from the company, which is facing regulatory hurdles amid a cash crunch.

On Wednesday, the Karnataka High Court ordered that any resolutions, to be passed in the EGM, would not hold ground until the final hearing and disposition of the petition on March 13, filed by Think & Learn Private Ltd, the parent company of Byju’s.