BYJU’s names Messi an ambassador for equal education amid massive job cuts
Football player Lionel Messi has been chosen as the first global brand ambassador of BYJU’s, a prominent EdTech company, for its social impact arm Education For All, the company announced on Friday. According to the programme, Messi will support equal education, according to a statement from BYJU’S. Messi is the Argentine football team’s captain and now plays for Paris Saint-Germain.
BYJU’S co-founder Divya Gokulnath said, “We are honoured and excited to collaborate with Lionel Messi as our global ambassador. He rose from the grassroots to become one of the most successful sportspersons ever. That is the kind of opportunity that BYJU’S Education For All (EFA) wants to create for the nearly 5.5 million children it currently empowers. No one represents the power of enhancing human potential more than Lionel Messi.”
BYJU’s has been spending a lot of money on endorsements and sponsorships despite widespread employment losses. BYJU’S was named the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar earlier this year. Additionally, it renewed the BCCI’s contract for the prized location on the front of Team India’s jersey for another 18 months. The corporation reportedly paid about $55 million for the extension.
After meeting Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, BYJU’s decided to change its mind about terminating 140 workers and closing its Thiruvananthapuram location. The workers had visited with Kerala’s Labor Minister V Sivankutty and requested his intervention in the situation.
Byju Raveendran, the business’s chief executive officer (CEO), had disclosed that the corporation would reduce its 50,000-person staff by 5%, or 2,500 workers, by March of the next year in order to reduce costs. Due to rising staff and promotion costs, the online learning platform recorded a loss of 45.64 billion rupees ($554.77 million) for the fiscal year 2021 in May.
The latest partnership between BYJU’s and Messi will raise the company’s profile abroad because there are almost 3.5 billion football enthusiasts in the world. Additionally, Messi has a nearly 450 million strong social media following.
