Founder takes reins back at Byju’s
CEO Arjun Mohan to step down, will serve in an advisory role
Indian education technology company Byju’s will restructure its business into three divisions, with founder and CEO Byju Raveendran taking a more active role in day-today operations, the embattled start-up said yesterday.
Byju’s, once one of India’s hottest start-ups, has suffered numerous setbacks in the past few years, leading to a crisis of investor confidence, thousands of job cuts and its valuation nosediving to under $3 billion, from $22 billion in 2022.
Byju’s will now consolidate into three divisions — its marquee online learning app business, online classes and tuition centres and lastly, test preparation — with each having a separate head, the company said.
This comes after a sevenmonth operational and costs review led by India CEO Arjun Mohan, who will step down and transition to an external advisory role, the company said, without providing a reason for the move.
Mohan, former CEO of edtech upGrad, joined Byju’s last July to lead the international business and was made India CEO in September.
Restructuring impact
Byju’s, which operates in 21 countries as per its LinkedIn page, said the restructuring would not impact its international businesses, since it was product, not geography, specific. The company said Reveendran will take on a more “hands-on” approach in daily operations, compared with his recent focus on aspects such as raising capital and global expansion.
In February, a group of investors including Prosus and Peak XV voted to oust Raveendran due to governance, financial mismanagement and compliance issues. Byju’s had called the move invalid.