Byju's pays January salaries; founder Raveendran says moving mountains to make payroll

Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO, BYJU'S

The founder and CEO 0f embattled edtech company Byju’s, Byju Raveendran said the company credited all pending January salaries to employees over the last two days, in a fresh letter to employees on February 4.

“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,” said Raveendran, in the fresh letter.

The company's monthly payroll expenses are close to Rs 70 crore, sources told Moneycontrol.

This comes two days after Moneycontrol reported that the company had delayed salaries for the month of January amid a worsening liquidity crisis, despite recently assuring its employees to disburse payments on the first day of every month.

In a letter to employees that followed, the senior management confirmed the delay and said that it was due to an "artificially induced crisis by select investors."

Byju's also shared a separate statement with the media highlighting that its shareholder agreement does not give investors the right to vote on CEO or management change, a day after a group of its investors launched a campaign to oust its leadership.

Raveendran reiterated the same in the new letter, on February 4, and said that the fight is only against a few vested interests who were trying to sabotage the company by impeding the rights issue, that was announced earlier last week for existing shareholders.

"Nothing has galvanized our team more than their effort to destabilize our company," he added.

The Byju's chief also shared an emotional account of the struggles he has been going through at a time when the company has been under fire since the start of 2022 for a range of issues, including a liquidity crunch, accounting irregularities, scrutiny from government bodies, alleged mis-selling of courses and mass layoffs, among others.

"Two days ago, I saw my father, the most resilient person I know, breaking down after seeing the news. My father is my role model; I am a teacher because he once was; I am an entrepreneur because he always taught me to follow my dreams. That he, my rock-solid support, was moved to tears made me feel a sudden pain," Raveendran said.