The edtech major promised a learning revolution, offering hope to millions of under-educated youth. Now, those dreams are shattered, observes Devangshu Datta.
Cash-strapped edtech firm Byju's is likely to pay its employees the April salaries this week, according to sources. The company is grappling with the issue of delays in paying salaries to employees. "There has been a delay in salary. It is expected to be now paid sometime this week," said a person.
'Considering Pai is putting his own personal money in Byju's, stakeholders in the company can look forward to more governance and transparency.'
'What has happened at Byju's is no surprise to anyone.'
BJP candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar's wife and son who keep themselves far from the political limelight reveal what it is like to campaign for the first time.
A number of high-profile electoral battles, starring veterans and debutants, formidable opponents and unlikely contestants, feature in Tuesday's outcome.
Cash-strapped edtech firm Byju's' parent company said on Monday it will raise $200 million by way of a rights issue to all its equity shareholders, aiming to support growth and achieve operational sustainability. The proposed rights issuance by Think and Learn Private Limited (TLPL) will fund capital expenditure and support general corporate purposes. As the largest shareholders, the founders of Byju's have personally invested more than $1.1 billion in the company in the last 18 months.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday alleged that graffiti threatening Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were scribbled inside the metro trains in Delhi, as it accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of being behind this incident.
The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has searched the Bengaluru-located office and residential premises of Edtech major BYJU's and its CEO and co-founder Raveendran Byju and seized 'incriminating' documents and digital data as part of a foreign exchange violation probe.
Karnataka high court on Wednesday refused to stay an emergency shareholder meeting called by select investors of Think and Learn Pvt Ltd -- the owner of Byju's -- to oust the company's Founder and CEO Byju Raveendran and his family from the leadership in the edtech firm. Byju's had approached the Karnataka HC seeking a stay on the EGM but the court only gave an interim relief that any resolution passed at the EGM on Friday cannot be implemented before the next court hearing. "It is further submitted that the conditions for convening the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) are not complied and no notice is issued as contemplated under Section 100 (3) of the Companies Act 2013," the court order said.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
'Due to the fear caused by the Byju's crisis, several employees have chosen to take up entry-level jobs in firms other than edtech.'
Byju's has rolled back the decision to relocate 140 employees at one of its offices in Kerala after founder Byju Raveendran's meeting with Chief Minister P Vijayan and announced plans to hire 600 people in the state. The edtech major gave an option to all its 140 staff working at TVM product development centre in Thiruvananthapuram to relocate to Bengaluru as it was planning to shut down the Thiruvananthapuram office as part of its cost optimisation strategy. All these employees were also offered an assured path to return to Byju's in case they are unable to find a job in the next 12 months.
Edtech major Byju's is in process to raise Rs 600-700 crore to fund the company's operations till March by when it expects to realise money through the sale of Epic and partial stake sale in other subsidiaries, according to sources aware of the development. Byju's founder Byju Raveendran has recently raised money by mortgaging home and real estate assets owned by family members for paying salaries, sources said. "There is about Rs 50 crore gap per month in operational expenses where a large component is salary.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it wanted to "tighten up" the self-regulatory mechanism of monitoring TV news channels and granted four more weeks to News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) to come up with fresh guidelines.
'India's edtech and start-up story will be in danger.'
Even as the dust settles on one election, glory in Thiruvananthapuram has come with a new question on the horizon: Who will be UDF's candidate in the next Lok Sabha election given Shashi Tharoor has said 2024 would be his last? It isn't a vacancy that can be easily filled, points out Shyam G Menon.
Audit firm Deloitte has resigned as auditors of Byju's citing a delay in submission of financial statements while almost simultaneously three of the edtech firm's board members have quit in what is being seen as a deepening crisis at the decacorn. Deloitte Haskins & Sells, which was slated to audit Byju's until 2025, stepped down with "immediate effect" mid-term stating that "the financial statements of the company are long delayed. In a letter sent to the board of Think & Learn Pvt Ltd (known as Byju's), Deloitte said it has not been able to start an audit due to the delays and that will have a "significant impact" on its ability to "plan, design perform and complete" the audit as per standards.
BlackRock has again reduced the valuation of its share in edtech firm Byju's - this time to about $1 billion, TechCrunch reported on Friday, citing disclosures made by the US-based asset manager. This is 95 per cent less than its peak valuation of $22 billion in 2022. The markdown comes at a time when the company is facing a multitude of challenges, including securing fresh capital, delays in financial reporting and legal disputes with lenders.
'Which fund manager in the world will put money into a company that hasn't filed its annual account?'
'Criticism is one thing, and cynicism is quite another.' 'However, we are undaunted by this negativity because we know the truth.'
Edtech major Byju's has denied charges that it purchased students' databases and clarified that it relies on app users, walk-ins and incoming requests for consultation. The statement from Byju's comes against the backdrop of summons issued to the company by child rights body National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). "Byju's strongly denies the allegation that it purchases students' databases.
Neither the BJP, nor the Congress before it, made any manifesto commitments on defence spending, even though allocations have plummeted from 4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the late 1980s to less than 2 per cent today, points out Ajai Shukla.
Byju's, India's most-valued startup, has decided to put two of its key assets -- Epic and Great Learning -- on the block to generate $800 million-$1 billion in cash, with an aim to meet the edtech firm's various commitments, including repaying the entire $1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) within six months, according to sources. The cash-strapped company has proposed repaying $300 million of the $1.2 billion loan in the next three months, depending on whether the lenders accept Byju's amendment proposal, said the people familiar with the development. "This loan repayment proposal has been submitted to the lenders and conversations are going in the right direction," said a person in the know.
Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai is in early discussions to invest in Byju's-owned Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL). According to sources in the know, Byju's founder and chief executive officer Byju Raveendran, who owns a 30 per cent stake in Aakash, is expected to partially offload his holding to Pai for $80-90 million (about Rs 650-740 crore). Raveendran may use the money to repay a large part of the Rs 800 crore loan that Byju's raised from US-based investment firm Davidson Kempner Capital Management in May, after facing a 'technical default', the sources said.
This, Byju, was the time to apply the business lens, treat your company as a business, run your company as a business. Instead, you splurged, observes Suveen Sinha.
The Supreme Court-appointed panels probing the unauthorised use of Pegasus found some kind of malware in five mobile phones out of the 29 examined but it could not be concluded that it was due to the Israeli spyware.
She said I treated her like a bachchi. At another moment, she said I had gone to various people and 'bitched' about her. She also threatened to bring the entire matter to the PM's notice. A revealing excerpt from Subhash Chandra Garg's We Also Make Policy: An Insider's Account of How the Finance Ministry Functions.
Byju's is planning to raise $500-600 million from Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds and existing investors, according to sources, as the start-up world is facing a funding freeze. The educational technology (edtech) giant targets profitability by March next year. "There is no change in Byju's valuation. The new fundraising process is still going on," said a person familiar with the matter. "Any new valuation would be determined in the futureByju's is planning to raise $500-600 million from Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds and existing investors, according to sources, as the start-up world is facing a funding freeze. The educational technology (edtech) giant targets profitability by March next year. "There is no change in Byju's valuation. The new fundraising process is still going on," said a person familiar with the matter. "Any new valuation would be determined in the future as it is very tough for investors to do that in this environment." as it is very tough for investors to do that in this environment."
The corporate affairs ministry has ordered an inspection of the books of Byju's, a senior government official said on Monday amid the edtech major facing multiple headwinds, including delay in submitting financial statements and concerns over corporate governance issues. The inspection of Bengaluru-based Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, which operates under the brand Byju's, will be carried out by the ministry, which is implementing the companies law. The ministry decided to carry out the inspection after taking note of the developments, including that the company has been unable to finalise its financial statements and that its auditor has resigned, the official told PTI.
Veteran Communist leader and former chief minister V S Achuthanandan, one of the most popular and crowd-puller leaders in the history of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist in the state, turned 100 on Friday.
With debt woes and a legal case in the US courts, educational technology (edtech) giant Byju's is expected to be laying off more employees, according to media reports. According to The Morning Context report, Byju's intends to lay off 1,000 employees. This number, however, could not be confirmed by Business Standard independently. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the reports.
A group of lenders to educational technology (edtech) giant Byju's has told the firm that they're open to negotiations with the company to resolve litigation and other disputes, according to people familiar with the matter. However, they have told Byju's that they will not engage in the firm's proposal for one-on-one meetings, according to sources. Byju's recently filed a suit against US-based investment management firm Redwood to challenge the acceleration of the $1.2-billion Term Loan B (TLB) facility, and disqualify the lender for its "predatory tactics".
The Supreme Court-appointed committees, entrusted with the probe of unauthorised use of Pegasus, have given a slew of recommendations including amending laws to protect citizens' right to privacy and ensure the nation's cyber security.
Edtech giant Byju's is set to lay off nearly 2,500, or 5 per cent, of its employees as part of an "optimisation" plan. The move by India's most valuable start-up comes amid a funding winter and steep losses. "To avoid redundancies and duplication of roles, and by leveraging technology better, around 5 per cent of Byju's 50,000-strong workforce is expected to be rationalised across product, content, media, and technology teams in a phased manner," said the company in a statement. In June, Byju's laid off about 600 employees at its group companies -WhiteHat Jr and Toppr.
Tharoor's dig came a day after the Animal Welfare Board of India said it has withdrawn the appeal to celebrate February 14 as 'Cow Hug Day' following directions from the government amid widespread criticism on social media.
Byju's has quietly moved into other global markets such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It recently launched operations in Latin America.
A Rs 1 crore defamation case and a petition seeking an injunction to restrain his autobiography has been filed against Rajya Sabha MP and former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi by Assam Public Works (APW) president Aabhijeet Sharma at a local court in Guwahati.
With clock ticking down fast for the upcoming edition of the Asian Games, Hockey India named a 39-member core probable group for the Senior Men's National Coaching Camp.
It sent shock waves in the party -- a political greenhorn had taken on Modi in his home turf of Gujarat. Smriti had clearly tried to choose sides, in this case Vajpayee's camp. Many felt that this would end Irani's career. A revealing excerpt from Nidhi Sharma's new book She, The Leader: Women in Indian Politics.
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