BYJU'S to not renew partnership with BCCI, ICC & FIFA, Founder & CEO says

BYJU’S will not be renewing its branding partnerships with BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), ICC (International Cricket Council), and FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) as it looks to cover costs in order to become profitable in FY23, the company’s founder and CEO, Byju Raveendran said at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Davos. 
 
“The biggest optimisation that you will see over the next few months is that you will see us significantly cutting down branding because we think we have achieved the kind of brand awareness which is required for the segment as well as for the company. So, you will see us exiting some of those branding contracts,” Raveendran told Moneycontrol.
 
In September last year, the company hit the headlines when it reported its financial results after almost an 18-month delay and saw its losses widening to Rs 4,588 crore whereas revenues stood at Rs 2,428 crore.
“We won’t renew some of the partnerships. We have multiple partnerships with BCCI, ICC, and FIFA and by taking out these branding initiatives by not renewing them, that’s where you will see a lot of improvement,” he added.
 
2022 was a difficult year for the edtech major. After releasing its financial results, the company announced the layoff of 5 per cent of its workforce in October. And just when it seemed like it was entering a phase of relative calm after it conducted mass layoffs to focus on capital-efficient growth, the Bengaluru-based firm found itself being pulled up by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) over alleged hard-selling and mis-selling of its courses to students. 
 
Moreover, the company also faced a lot of backlash when it announced Lionel Messi as the brand ambassador of its not-for-profit initiative. 
 
In an interview with Business Today, Raveendran had said, “The last six months were challenging but the next six years are going to be great.” He also revealed that the company has made a “shift from just growth to sustainable growth.”

The founder of the edtech unicorn admitted that of the six acquisitions BYJU’S did, WhiteHatJr has been the most challenging one. 
 
WhiteHatJr was acquired by BYJU’S in 2020 for $300 million. Raveendran said that at that time rolling out this offer seemed fair because the company was getting offers which were more than $300 million. Moreover, the Karan Bajaj-led business was growing decently then, he said. 
 
“Today, it is easy to say that we shouldn’t have made that acquisition. We have not been able to solve the cost of acquiring a student. And so, we have struggled with the WhiteHat Jr acquisition, and I have accepted that.”
 
He said that besides WhiteHatJr, other acquisitions including that of Aakash Institutes have been successful. He pointed out that Aakash has grown 3x and another company which BYJU'S acquired, Great Learning, has grown 2x. 

Also Read: Davos Exclusive: 'Made mistakes but strong intent to correct them,' says BYJU’S CEO Byju Raveendran