Byju Raveendran out of Forbes' billionaires list as company value drops by 77% in a year

Kochi: Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran has been dropped from the Forbes' billionaires list. The founder of the world's largest educational technology company is a native of Azhikode, Kannur.

The company's value was slashed recently following the crisis looming for around a year. A Netherlands-based firm, which has an investment in the company, has written down its 9.6% stake in the company. This brought down the effective valuation of Byju's to $5.1 billion (around Rs 42,000 crore). Last year it was valued at $22 billion. The company's value has fallen by 77 per cent in a year. 

With this, the asset value of Byju, who has an 18 per cent stake in the company, has fallen below 1 billion dollars, the minimum amount required to feature in the Forbes’ list. His present net worth is valued at $475 million. Byju was valued at $1.8 billion when it entered the Forbes list for the first time in 2020. Within two years, it had risen to $3.6 billion. 

Byju’s grew by raising capital at a rapid pace, but was accused of exaggerating the numbers. Massive acquisitions also seem to have backfired. The company is yet to release its numbers for 2021-22. Meanwhile, Deloitte withdrew from the company's auditing work. A few weeks ago, the representatives of the stock investors resigned from the board of directors, exposing the crisis of the ed tech behemoth.