BENGALURU: Prosus, one of the largest investors in edtech firm Byju’s, on Tuesday said executive leadership at Byju’s “regularly disregarded advice and recommendations relating to strategic, operational, legal, and corporate governance matters.”
The investor said the company grew considerably since its first investment in 2018, but over time, its reporting and governance structures didn’t evolve sufficiently for a company of that scale. Three prominent investors including Prosus Director Russell Dreisenstock resigned from board last month.
It said “The decision for our Director to step down from Byju’s Board was taken after it became clear he was unable to fulfil his fiduciary duty to serve long-term interests of the company and its stakeholders.” “Prosus is a long-standing and committed supporter of Indian entrepreneurship, investing billions in India and collaborating with dozens of businesses and founders for nearly 20 years.
While the companies and sectors we work with in India and across the globe are high-growth and evolving, our stakeholders expect we hold ourselves and our investee companies to the highest standards of corporate governance and reporting,” the statement said.
In June, Prosus had marked down the firm’s valuation to $5.1 billion. Prosus, which holds less than 10% stake, has invested $536 million in Byju’s since 2018. It lost significant influence in the firm from September 2022.
In its annual report, Prosus said, “The group recognised a gain on loss of significant influence of the associate of $22 million, including a reclassification of the accumulated foreign currency translation losses of $55 million.”