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Byju’s EGM: Sharp noises, ‘phishing’ attack delay cloud investor-led meeting to oust CEO Raveendran

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Supriya Roy

, ETtechLast Updated: Feb 23, 2024, 11:49:00 AM IST

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The EGM has been called by a group of investors who are seeking to remove founder Byju Raveendran, his wife and brother from the board. The investors have flagged concerns about the management's failure to enforce the company’s rights related to the acquisition of Aakash Institute.

Investors in edtech firm Byju’s parent Think & Learn who called for Friday's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) were allegedly disrupted by employees of the embattled startup when the virtual call commenced around 9 am.

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The meeting finally began an hour late, as per attendees on the call who spoke to ET on the condition of anonymity. “Random users got in on the call and were writing messages such as ‘we need Byju’, ‘dear investors we need Byju sir’ and ‘he is the soul of the company,’” one of the attendees told ET.

According to shareholders who attended the meeting, background whistles and sharp noises were heard during the EGM to sabotage the process. “The day started with a phishing attack to attempt to disrupt the meeting. Attendees received a random notification from an unidentified source that the meeting is cancelled,” one of them said.

“Several Byju’s representatives tried to join in without process and ambushed the meeting. When asked to introduce themselves, there was no response, this was clearly an ambush to delay the proceedings but the meeting is underway as planned,” said another attendee.

It took the investors about an hour to evict the users who disrupted the EGM, the attendee said. “Byju’s and the management leaked this Zoom (virtual call) information to random individuals,” the person alleged.

Byju’s did not immediately respond to ET’s requests for comment.

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The EGM was called by a group of investors seeking removal of founder Byju Raveendran as the company’s CEO. The investors are also seeking to change the board which consists of Raveendran, his wife and cofounder Divya Gokulnath, and his brother Riju Raveendran. The three are the only board members at Byju's parent firm.

Among other corporate governance lapses, the investor group had raised concerns about the management's failure to enforce the company’s rights related to the acquisition of Aakash Institute and also agreeing to “onerous” and “prejudicial” loan terms with Davidson Kempner (DK), among other matters.

Byju’s on Thursday said Raveendran and family members will not attend the EGM. The company said in a statement, “this EGM is procedurally invalid, contractually in contravention of our AOA (article of association) and SHA (shareholding agreement), legally on the wrong side of the Companies Act, 2013."