Just this week, board members representing Peak XV Partners, earlier known as Sequoia Capital India, Prosus, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative also stepped down, without publicly expressing their reasons.Education technology giant Byju’s has told investors it will file 2022 audited earnings by September and 2023 results by December, Reuters reported on Sunday. This comes just days after the company’s auditor Deloitte severed its ties with Byju’s over its “long-delayed” financial statements for the year ended March 2022. Just this week, board members representing Peak XV Partners, earlier known as Sequoia Capital India, Prosus, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative also stepped down, without publicly expressing their reasons.
The resignations were among the biggest crises for Byju’s, valued last year at $22 billion and backed by the likes of investor General Atlantic. This also raised questions about the ed-tech firm’s corporate governance and came weeks after it was raided over suspected violations of foreign exchange laws.
On Saturday, Byju’s leadership, including founder Byju Raveendran and Chief Financial Officer Ajay Goel, briefed about 75 shareholders to address their concerns about the company’s financial affairs, a person who attended the meeting told Reuters. Goel told the investors Byju’s will submit 2021-22 audited results to the regulators by September and 2022-23 earnings by year’s end, the person said as per the news agency
Reuters on Friday reported that Byju’s was asking its three global investors to reconsider their decision to quit its board. The ed-tech firm is also locked in a dispute with lenders, who allege the company hid $500 million, leading it to sue lender Redwood Management.
During the pandemic, Byju’s witnessed an unprecedented wave of interest in its products which range from online tutorials for children to offline coaching for engineering aspirants. Its valuation ballooned from $5 billion in 2020 to $22 billion in 2022. Byju’s also made acquisitions worth billions of dollars, seeking to expand abroad and in different segments.
However, the company’s valuation was slashed to $8.4 billion earlier this year by Blackrock, a minor shareholder. In recent times, the company has also run into governance issues, audit delays, and laid off thousands of employees in the past year, seeking to cut costs.
