- By Aditya Pratap Singh
- Thu, 04 Apr 2024 11:22 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Byju Raveendran: According to the recently released 'Forbes World's Billionaires List 2024', Byju Raveendran, the co-founder of the troubled ed-tech firm Byju's, is no longer a billionaire. Raveendran's net worth was Rs 17,545 crore ($2.1 billion) a year ago. But today, it has fallen to zero.
Byju's, once regarded as one of India's most valuable startups, has been plagued by various issues since 2022, including accounting irregularities, alleged missing courses, and mass layoffs.
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The company has laid off thousands of employees in the last 12 months as it struggles to keep up with its venture capital funding and slowing demand for its online learning services. Previously, a faction of board members also organized an extraordinary general meeting to remove Raveendran and his family members from their positions.
According to media reports, members of the investment board also quit, citing differences with Raveendran.
Byju's was founded in 2011 by Raveendran, his wife Divya Gokulnath, one of his early students, who assisted him in running the company and is also a board member of the company. Although Raveendran has been removed from the Forbes Billionaires Index, the number of billionaires around the world has increased. There are now 2,781 billionaires in the world, up 141 from last year.
Zerodha founders Nitin and Nikhil Kamat and Flipkart founders Sachin and Bani Bansal are among India's youngest billionaires, according to the latest Forbes Billionaires List 2024. At the age of 37, Nikhil Kamat is the youngest billionaire in India with a net worth of $3.1 billion. His assets have increased significantly in the last year.
In the list, Indian industrialist and chairman of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani tops the list as the richest person in India and Asia as well, meanwhile, his wealth shot up to $116 billion from $83 billion. Gautam Adani is in second position as the richest person in India. As per the report around 200 Indians are on the list of billionaires.