Byju's CEO Arjun Mohan Steps Down, Founder Raveendran Retakes Charge

15 Apr 2024 , 01:54 PM

Just about seven months after taking over, Byju’s CEO Arjun Mohan has left, and the firm announced in a statement on April 15 that creator Byju Raveendran will now take on daily operating responsibilities. Mohan is going to move into a position as an external advisor.

This occurs roughly ten months after Byju’s appointed Mohan, the former CEO of UpGrad, to lead its worldwide operations, marking a major turning point in the edtech sector at the highest level.

Due to a decline in business, Arjun Mohan indicated that he would be leaving to seek other possibilities. Byju Raveendran will now be handling more day-to-day operations. asserts that morale will improve. After a four-year sabbatical, Raveendran is back in charge.

“Arjun has led BYJU’S through a difficult time with great skill,” he continued. Byju Raveendran, the founder and group CEO, said, “We appreciate his leadership and look forward to his continued contributions as a strategic advisor.”

According to a person with knowledge of the developments, Mohan had high hopes of being appointed to the Aakash CEO position, which was ultimately filled by the former MD of Pearson India last week. Having lost his position at Aakash and seen his business at Byju’s decline, Mohan has made the decision to hunt for other edtech prospects.

The corporation has reorganized its activities into three distinct divisions: Test-prep, Online Classes & Tuition Centers, and The Learning App. This is the reason for the recent top-deck reorganization. While the corporation struggles with significant cash crunch challenges, each of these units will have its own executives who will independently run the operations sustainably to maintain profitability.

“BYJU’S 3.0, a leaner and more agile organization poised to quickly respond to new market dynamics, notably in the domain of hyper-personalized education,” Raveendran continued, “marks the beginning of this transformation.”

The troubled Byju’s introduced a new leadership change in September 2023, dubbed “Byju’s 2.0.”

Having bid farewell to its India CEO, Mrinal Mohit, a founding employee and former student of Founder Byju Raveendran, Arjun Mohan assumed responsibility and managed the corporate restructuring.

Formerly the Chief Business Officer of Byju, Mohan left the company in 2020 to become the CEO of Ronnie Screwvala’s upskilling unicorn upGrad. He rejoined Byju’s earlier in July to oversee its global operations, although at that time the company had not released an official statement.

When the beleaguered edtech unicorn is struggling with a tight liquidity situation, the management changes.

In addition, the company is looking into selling its subsidiaries, has given up its office space, and is seeking outside capital. It has also previously gone through several rounds of layoffs.

Restructuring and shrinking the corporation was, in fact, one of Mohan’s main priorities. when he started a significant reorganization process that resulted in the loss of 4,000–5,000 positions at Byju’s.

The edtech company was ordered by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) at the end of the previous year to hold onto the money it had received from the rights issue until the four investors’ complaint alleging oppression and mismanagement was resolved.

Prosus NV, Peak XV Partners, General Atlantic, and Sofina SA, among other investors in Byju, filed the plea in opposition to the company’s decision to raise $200 million at a post-money valuation of $225 million, which is 99% lower than the company’s previous funding round, which occurred at a valuation of $22 billion.

Byju’s started paying salaries on April 8, 2024, following a two-month delay, despite being prohibited from utilizing the funds of a newly floated rights issue.

The company noted in the email that, in spite of its best efforts, it has not yet received permission to access the funds from the rights issue due to the actions of four of its investors.

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