‘We are here to stay': Byju Raveendran pens emotional note to employees as trouble mounts for edtech firm 

Byju Raveendran, CEO of the beleaguered edtech company BYJU’S, penned an emotional note to employees after addressing them in a virtual townhall. In his note, the CEO tried to assure employees that his company, along with the edtech sector, is here to stay.

“Tough times may test us, but they also reveal our true strength. I assure you that EdTech is here to stay. We are here to stay. We have not come this far to only come this far,” Raveendran wrote to employees.

Before writing the note, on Thursday, the CEO addressed employees in a virtual town hall. Sources present at the town hall noted that the company had disabled chat in the virtual meeting to ensure employees could not ask any questions to the CEO or chat amongst themselves.

“Chat was closed so we could not ask him any questions that he was not prepared for. It was just a one-sided speech, a monologue. Our issues like job insecurity, salary insecurity, etc. have still been left unaddressed,” the employee said.

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Both in the town hall, and in his note to employees, the CEO accepted that the company is facing headwinds, and they are in the spotlight due to the company’s massive scale.

He wrote, “This is not to suggest that we are not facing some tough headwinds, many of which are related to the prevailing adverse macroeconomic conditions… the challenges we face seem magnified by the spotlight that comes with being the world's leading edtech company.”

“This company is not just my work; it is my life. For 18 years, I have dedicated more than 18 hours a day to BYJU’S, pouring my heart and soul into this mission. And I want to do this for at least 30 more years,” he added.

Raveendran highlighted that the management is taking steps to ensure the company turns profitable in the next few quarters.

“We have taken strategic measures to ensure sustainability and profitability by streamlining our business operations and optimising our team size. With a strong foundation and an exceptional team, we are now poised for sustainable growth in the days ahead,” he wrote.

Lately BYJU’s is under heat due to various governance issues at the company. Earlier this week, Business Today reported that the company had deferred the offer letters of incoming employees. This development was confirmed by the company.

Moreover, several employees claimed that the edtech company had not been paying provident fund dues to EPFO, which it had been collecting from employees. The EPFO started an investigation into the company earlier this week.

Furthermore, Deloitte, BYJU’S auditor, resigned last week citing inability to audit the company due to the edtech company’s failure to provide financial data despite repeated requests of the auditor. 

To add to that, G.V. Ravishankar of Peak XV formerly Sequoia Capital India, Vivian Wu of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus exited the company’s board last week, marking resignations of half of the company’s board of directors (three out of six). After the high profile exits, only Byju Raveendran, Riju Raveendran, and Divya Gokulnath are left on the company board.

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