"I continue to remain CEO, the claims made by them are completely wrong": Byju Raveendran on EGM results

Byju Raveendran, the CEO and founder of the edtech company, in a letter to employees, said that the rumours of him getting fired from Byju’s are inaccurate.

The comment comes a day after more than 60% of shareholders voted in favour to remove Byju Raveendran and his family from the company's board.

Why did Byju tell employees?

“I am writing this letter to you as the CEO of our company. Contrary to what you may have read in the media, I continue to remain CEO, the management remains unchanged, and the board remains the same. Put differently, it is “business as usual” at BYJU’S. The rumours of my firing have been greatly exaggerated and highly inaccurate,” he wrote.

“The governance of our company is anchored in the Articles of Association and the Shareholder Agreement, further reinforced by the prevailing company law. These documents collectively form the constitutional backbone of our operations, setting out the rules and procedures by which we must abide,” Raveendran said.

“At yesterday’s 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 added.

Investors voted to remove Byju Raveendran

Notably, over 60% of Byju's shareholders voted to remove Founder & CEO Byju Raveendran, his wife, and his brother from the company's board, citing concerns over "mismanagement and failures" within what was previously regarded as one of India's most promising tech startups.

Prosus stated that shareholders approved all proposals, including addressing governance issues, financial mismanagement and compliance issues at Byju's; the reconstitution of the board of directors so that it is no longer controlled by the founder of T&L; and a change of leadership of the company."

Byju say 'claims made by investors are completely wrong'

"The claims made by a small group of select minority shareholders that they have unanimously passed the resolution in the EGM is completely wrong. Only 35 out of 170 shareholders (representing around 45% of shareholding) voted in favour of the resolution. That in itself shows the very limited support that this irrelevant meeting received," Byju added. 

He also referred to the Karnataka High Court’s order and said any decisions made during the meeting would not be given effect until the next hearing on March 13.

Byju Raveendran, along with other board members, including his wife, Divya Gokulnath, and brother, Riju Raveendran, did not attend the extraordinary general meeting (EGM), calling it 'invalid'.

The company said that the EGM is invalid due to procedural, contractual, and legal issues, claiming it contradicts the company's Articles of Association (AOA) and Shareholders' Agreement (SHA), as well as the Companies Act 2013.

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