Byju Raveendran, the founder of ed-tech startup Byju's, has been officially removed from the Forbes Billionaire list. Earlier, Raveendran's net worth stood at Rs 17,545 crore ($2.1 billion), however, the figure has slumped to zero on the Index.
This stark decline is primarily due to the financial challenges the ed-tech platform, once hailed as India's darling startup, continues to face.
Forbes reportedly stated in a piece, "Only four people from last year's list dropped off this time, including former ed-tech star Byju Raveendran, whose firm Byju's was enveloped in multiple crises and its valuation was marked down by BlackRock to $1 billion, a fraction of its peak $22 billion valuation in 2022."
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Amidst a series of difficulties involving board members, auditors, investors, employees, and various governmental bodies such as the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), this news emerges as the company continues to remain in murky waters.
The company is also resorting to layoffs as a part of its organisational restructuring process to reduce costs.
When Byju's disclosed its long-awaited financial results, the company revealed a staggering net loss exceeding $1 billion. Following this BlackRock, who was a major investor in the ed-tech startup, sharply downgraded Byju's valuation to a mere $1 billion.
The company also came under regulatory radar this year as the company went under investigation by the ED for suspected violations amounting to over Rs 9000 crore under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
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Even after this, the ed-tech platform continues to face mounting troubles.
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