Byju’s’ Aakash selects former Pearson India MD Deepak Mehrotra as CEO

Byju's Aakash

Byju’s-owned test prep firm Aakash is set to appoint former Pearson India managing director Deepak Mehrotra as the chief executive officer, sources told Moneycontrol.

This comes nearly seven months after the position fell vacant when the former CEO and CFO of Aakash called it quits last September.

Mehrotra has previously held the position of the managing director at Ashirvad Pipes for five years from 2018. According to his LinkedIn profile, he moved on from his position in Ashirvad Pipes in September 2023. An announcement on Mehrotra's induction is expected shortly.

Byju’s had acquired Aakash in April 2021 in an equity and cash deal. The deal had a 70 percent cash component and 30 percent equity component, which means that promoters of Aakash and private equity firm Blackstone, which holds about 12 percent in the company, would have got shares of Byju's parent Think & Learn.

Byju’s has since used the funds from Aakash, a profitable entity, to hedge its losses from unsuccessful acquisitions like WhiteHat Junior and Osmo. In a recent interview with Moneycontrol, Byju’s Group CFO Nitin Golani said that using Aakash’s proceeds for the overall business was not a "big deal".

In September 2023, the CEO Abhishek Maheshwari and CFO Vipan Joshi resigned amid a shareholder tussle as Byju's negotiated an equity swap for the Aakash deal with the Chaudhry family and Blackstone. Akash then set up a committee to appoint a CEO for the tutoring entity, a position that has been vacant for about seven months now.

The new appointment also comes months after reports said that Aakash Chaudhry, the promoter of Aakash Educational Services, is poised to return as the CEO of the tutoring unit. However, the talks fell through, even as Byju's is struggling with a liquidity crunch.

Incoming CEO Mehrotra has earlier served as a board member and in leadership positions in organisations such as Pearson Emerging Markets MC, Micromax Informatics Ltd, the Aliaxis Global Executive Committee, IFFCO Kisan Sanchar(an Airtel-IFFCO JV), and Airtel Mobility Board.

Mehrotra is poised to join Aakash at a time when the parent entity Byju's is facing acute financial strain with the company unable to afford salaries and regular operations. Byju’s has also run into a series of troubles with its stakeholders, including its board, auditors, investors, employees and government institutions like Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Enforcement Directorate.

In the latest development, Think and Learn has been asked by an emergency arbitrator not to sell around 6 percent stake in its subsidiary Aakash Education Services Limited as it has failed to pay back around Rs 350 crore raised from billionaire Ranjan Pai-led MEMG Family Office.

Moneycontrol had earlier reported that Pai, chairman of Manipal Group, to invest $80-90 million in Byju’s-owned Aakash emerging as a white knight to help the embattled edtech firm.