Big blow to BYJU's as auditor Deloitte, 3 board members resign
Three board members of Ed tech company Byju’s resigned on Thursday, June 22. According to reports, Peak XV Partners' GV Ravishankar, Prosus' Russell Dreisenstock and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's Vivian Wu have stepped down from their responsibilities from the board.
The board of India’s top edtech company now only has the founder family in CEO Byju Raveendran, his wife Divya Gokulnath, and brother Riju Raveendran. Edtech unicorn Byju’s suffered a twin blow with its statutory auditor and three external board members stepped down, adding to troubles for the company battling lenders, lawsuits, and a funding winter.
Byju’s recently skipped repayment of millions and entered into a legal tussle with a US lender. Significant resignations from the company's board of directors and auditor Deloitte have apparently occurred recently.
Byju's board members GV Ravishankar, MD of early investor Peak XV Partners (previously Sequoia Capital India), Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus, and Chan Zuckerberg's Vivian Wu have all reportedly departed, according to the most recent sources.
Meanwhile, Byju's has disregarded media claims of board member resignations and labelled them as wholly hypothetical. A spokesperson for BYJU'S stated, "BYJU'S vehemently denies these assertions and advises media publications to desist from disseminating unreliable material or indulging in pointless speculation."
Deloitte, an auditing firm, withdrew from its position as Byju's auditors due to the company's late submission of its financial results. It announced its resignation and stated that "the company's financial statements are long delayed."
This is thought to worsen the situation at Byju's, which is now struggling to repay a $1.2 billion debt. It has seen its valuation cut down recently to $8.2 billion (over Rs 67,000 crore), from the peak of $22 billion, by Blackrock.
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