Byju’s Chief Business Officer Prathyusha Agarwal, Two Senior Leaders Quit Amidst Ongoing Restructuring Process: Report

In addition to the CBO, Himanshu Bajaj, the business head of Byju’s tuition centers, and Mukut Deepak, the business head for class 4 to 10, have quit the company.

This departure of executives leading key segments like Byju’s Tuition Centers, and the core K-12 business, happened when the startup is trying to sail through operational issues amidst recent problems.

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Edtech startup Byju’s problems mounted as three senior executives resigned from the firm, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday. The official informed that the startup’s Chief Business Officer Prathyusha Agarwal and two other senior executives quit the company, reported Moneycontrol. 

According to the report, Himanshu Bajaj, the business head of Byju’s Tuition Centers, and Mukut Deepak, the business head for class 4 to 10, have quit the company. The report stated these claims citing anonymous sources. 

Agarwal became a part of Byju’s last year in February, after working with Zee Entertainment Enterprises in senior positions for more than five years. While Deepak was with the ed-tech startup for almost two years, earlier he worked with Tata Play as their Chief Business Officer.

Bajaj joined the company in November 2021 to lead the Byju’s Tuition Centers (BTC) segment after shifting from management consulting company Kearney, where he worked for about 16 years. 

This marks the continuation of problems for the Bengaluru-based startup which has been trying to overhaul it’s operations. Last week, the startup’s Senior Vice President for international business, Cherian Thomas, also quit the company. Thomas was considered one of the major members of the company’s American business and led Osmo, the company’s artificial intelligence platform. Byju’s acquired Osmo in 2019 for $120 million. 

The report cited one of the anonymous sources and stated that the resignations have happened as a result of the restructuring undertaken by the company. “They have ramped down the whole K-3 (Kindergarten to class 3) business which Prathyusha (Agarwal) was looking after from the business side. So, her role was getting redundant,” the report said citing the source. 

Further, the spokesperson for the company confirmed the resignations happened due to the restructuring and added, “As Byju’s continues to chart its path to profitability and sustainable growth, we have undertaken a restructuring of businesses and verticals including the consolidation of four verticals into two key verticals - K-10 and Exam Prep.”

The company’s spokesperson further noted that the K-10 vertical is currently led by Ramesh Karra, while Jitesh Shah leads the exam prep segment. 

The report stated that this departure of executives leading key segments like Byju’s Tuition Centers, and the core K-12 business, took place when the startup is trying to sail through operational issues amidst recent problems. Notably, the company’s auditor, Deloitte, resigned in June and it’s three major investor board members parted ways from the board in June, citing differences with the founder Byju Raveendran.