'Have been moving mountains for months': Byju Raveendran after Byju's pays January salaries

Byju Raveendran, the founder and CEO of beleaguered edtech unicorn Byju's, on Sunday said in a letter that the company has credited all pending salaries for the month of January over the last two days. Raveendran further said that the employees did not even have to wait till Monday, as per the letter exclusively accessed by Moneycontrol.

"I know you were told that you will get your salaries by Monday. You did not have to wait even till Monday. I have been moving mountains for months to make payroll, and this time, the struggle was even bigger to ensure that you receive what you rightfully deserve," Raveendran said in this letter. 

The unicorn's monthly payroll expenses are around Rs 70 crore, sources within the company told Moneycontrol. The development came days after reports suggested that the company delayed salaries for the month of January.

Soon after these reports, Byju's management, in a letter to employees, accused the shareholders for a "slight delay in salary disbursements this month because of the artificially induced crisis by these select investors." The letter further accused the select investors of indulging in conspiracy and demanding the stepping down of Raveendran as the Byju's group CEO. 

"We must address an unfortunate development. Certain investors, seeing the crisis we faced, saw it as an opportunity to conspire and demand the stepping down of our founder as the group CEO of BYJU's. We are pained to see this action from a few of the investors who should have supported us in our fight at these challenging times, instead of directly speaking to media. The founders are the largest investors and the greatest fighters for BYJU's," the letter read. 

After this letter, Byju's also said that the investors calling Raveendran's ouster have no voting rights to bring about a change of leadership. Shareholders had reportedly expressed concerns over the company's future stability under Byju Raveendran's leadership. 

He said that the fight is against a few vested interests who are allegedly trying to sabotage the company by delaying the rights issue announced earlier last week for existing shareholders. "This fight is only against a few vested interests who were trying to sabotage the company by impending the rights issue. Nothing has galvanised our team more than their effort to destabilise our company," Raveendran said. 

Last week, Byju's parent company Think and Learn Pvt Ltd approved a rights issue for raising $200 million from existing investors, which started on January 29 and would remain valid for the next 30 days. The issue took place at a post-money valuation of $225 million, 99 per cent lower than the company's last funding round which took place at a valuation of $22 billion. 

Also Read: Byju's tells employees salary delay an 'artificially induced crisis by select investors': Report

Also Read: Investors looking to oust Byju Raveendran have no voting rights, says Byju’s