Byju’s Messi deal put on hold: Report

Edtech company Byju’s has reportedly put its three-year deal with footballer Lionel Messi as its global brand ambassador, on hold. The development comes a year after the deal was signed.

In November 2022, the edtech major signed Messi as its global brand ambassador for three years for an 'education for all' campaign as part of its social impact arm. According to media reports, he was signed for approximately $5-7 million dollars per year. The campaign, however, had come just a month after the company laid off 2500 employees, and hence had received a fair amount of criticism.

The company’s founder Byju Raveendran, however, justified in a note to employees that “there is a lot for us to learn from him and we are privileged to be able to,” he wrote.

A news report quoted an unnamed executive who has said that Byju’s has paid for Messi’s contract for the first year but it is yet to be decided if the deal will be terminated before the full term or whether the edtech company will revive the contract in due course. The executive added that the reason behind the decision is the liquidity crisis and other matters of “serious concern” within the company.

Reports estimate Messi’s annual earnings at $130 million in 2022-2023, second to Ronaldo’s $136 million total earnings. He has been associated with brands like Budweiser, PUBG MOBILE and Mastercard, among other brands, globally.

exchange4media has reached out to Byju’s for confirmation but is yet to hear back.

Apart from Messi, Byju’s also had a long-standing association with Shahrukh Khan, which ended in mid-2023. The company has not renewed its contract with Khan either. According to reports, the decision was mutual as Khan did not wish to be associated with the company given its constant regulatory scrutiny.

These developments however do not come off as a surprise at this point, considering all of Byju’s recent troubles. The company’s delayed filings with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs (MCA) showed that it had reported a massive loss of Rs 8,245.2 crore for FY '22. The firm's losses stood at Rs 4,564 crore in FY’21, posting a surge of 80.6% in its losses.

The most recent development at the company was around a shareholder agreement tussle where a group of investors in the edtech platform launched a campaign to oust the leadership, and Raveendran issuing a statement saying investors don’t have the right to vote on management changes.

Raveendran wrote in a letter on February 4 addressed to employees, which stated that “the fight is only against a few vested interests who were trying to sabotage the company."

As for marketing and advertising, Byju’s has played on the front foot for a long time. It even picked up the official sponsorship for Fifa World Cup 2022 in Qatar. According to some estimates, a FIFA World Cup partnership could cost partner brands up to USD 50 million (nearly Rs 400 crore). But it couldn’t continue on that high for long, since it then often found itself in constant conflicts with its lenders over loan repayment issues.

It also found itself in trouble with BCCI over its three-year jersey sponsorship deal which was signed in 2019. In January, the company revealed before India’s bankruptcy tribunal that it has moved an arbitrator to decide on the Rs 158 crore payment dispute with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). On November 28, 2023, BCCI took Byju’s to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) over alleged unpaid dues amounting to Rs 158 crore under their sponsorship contract with the Indian cricket team.