Byju's EGM: Investors vote to sack Byju Raveendran and family. Here's what happens next

Investors Prosus, General Atlantic and Peak XV on Friday voted to sack Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Byju Raveendran and his family from edtech company Byju’s,.

"At today’s Extraordinary General Meeting, shareholders unanimously passed all resolutions put forward for vote. These included a request for the resolution of the outstanding governance, financial mismanagement and compliance issues at BYJU’s; the reconstitution of the Board of Directors, so that it is no longer controlled by the founders of T&L; and a change in leadership of the Company," said a spokesperson from Prosus, the investors that led the EGM.

"As shareholders and significant investors, we are confident in our position on the validity of the EGM meeting and its decisive outcome, which we will now present to the Karnataka High Court in line with due process,” the Prosus statement said.

Earlier today, four investors of edtech firm Byju's filed a mismanagement suit in the NCLT, seeking the removal of Raveendran from the board of directors.

The shareholders in the edtech company filed a mismanagement and oppression suit against Raveendran in a bid to oust him from the firm, a day after the Karnataka High Court gave a March breather to the edtech founder. Further, the suit filed by the shareholders also seeks a forensic audit of the company, appointment of a new board and the rights issue void.

Responding to the NCLT move of the investors, the edtech company issued a a statement stating that the resolutions taken by shareholders are invalid and ineffective.

"BYJU'S firmly declares that the resolutions passed during the recently concluded Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) — attended by a small cohort of select shareholders — are invalid and ineffective. The passing of the unenforceable resolutions challenges the rule of law at worst," the company said.

On Wednesday, Think and Learn filed its plea in the Karnataka High Court. In an interim order, the HC stated that the decisions in the EGM will be subject to the next hearing of the petition, which has been scheduled for March 13.

The advocates for Think and Learn argued that the EGM of shareholders of the firm had not followed the procedure contemplated under Section 100(3) of Companies Act, 2013.

The HC noted: “The decision, if any taken by the shareholders of the petitioner company in the extraordinary general meeting scheduled on 23.02.2024, shall not be given effect to, till the next date of hearing."

The single judge of the court adjourned the matter to March 13.

The petition filed by Byju's named Chan Zuckerberg Mauritius, General Atlantic Singapore, MIH Edtech Investments, Owl Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, SCI Investments, SCHF PV Mauritius, Sands Capital Global Innovation Fund, Sofina SA and T Rowe Associates among the 13 investors who were part of the EGM today.

Earlier this month, a civil court in Bengaluru had turned down a plea by a representative firm for US lenders to Byju’s to stop the edtech firm’s parent firm from selling shares in its “crown jewel” Aakash Educational Services by citing technical grounds of the dispute being commercial in nature.

Also read: Byju’s investors file suit against Byju Raveendran, others for ‘mismanagement and failures’ in NCLT