BYJU’S To Restructure 30 Tuition Centres, Says 90% Will Continue To Run On Hybrid Model

A day after reports said that beleaguered edtech major BYJU’S was planning to shut 200 out of its 300 offline tuition centres, the company said that about 90% of its centres would continue to operate in hybrid model while the remaining would be restructured.

“In light of few recent reports falsely suggesting the closure of many BYJU’S Tuition Centres (BTCs), BYJU’S firmly states that such an implication is entirely unfounded and misrepresents the company’s operational strategy,” BYJU’S said in a statement on Friday (March 22).

The edtech giant said that its offline centres are entering their third year of operations and 90% of them (262 centres out of 292) would continue to function in a hybrid model. Meanwhile, the rest will undergo a “strategic restructuring to align with BYJU’S long-term vision”.

BYJU’S also said that most of its current students have already signed up for the next academic year – 2024-25, and the tuition centres are entering their third successful year of full-capacity operations.

It is pertinent to note that a report, earlier this month, said BYJU’S has given up all its office spaces in India, except its Bengaluru headquarter, in an attempt to cut costs. Its tuition centres were also set to start working from home for an indefinite period, the report said.

It is pertinent to note that BYJU’S is currently dealing with a pool of legal cases. Recently, a US insolvency court ordered the arrest of a hedge fund manager for allegedly helping the edtech startup in hiding $533 Mn from its lenders for $1.2 Bn term loan B (TLB). However, BYJU’S said that the judge quashed the lenders’ request seeking the deposition of the $533 Mn with the court and ordered maintaining the status quo. 

Besides, from fighting the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), BYJU’S is currently fighting more than a dozen cases amounting to over $1.5 Bn. 

Amid the ongoing troubles, BYJU’S investors called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) last month and passed a resolution seeking the ouster of the company CEO Byju Raveendran from his position.

Earlier this month, the Karnataka High Court extended the stay on the implementation of the resolutions passed by BYJU’S investors of BYJU’S till March 28.

Meanwhile, in another development this week, BYJU’S reportedly issued a notice to its shareholders for an EGM on March 29 to increase its authorised share capital following its $200 Mn rights issue. 

BYJU’S filed its FY22 financial statements almost 22 months after the end of the year. Its net loss surged 81% YoY to INR 8,245.2 Cr in the year. The company has also been delaying salaries recently after multiple rounds of layoffs that took place last year.