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The world’s highest-valued Edtech firm, Byju's has been subjected to a lot of criticism after they fired 2,500 employees. These condemnations saw another increase when Byjus, a month later announced that they have signed star footballer Lionel Messi as its global brand ambassador.
But in a recent interview, founders Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath the countless rumours regarding a connection between the Messi signing and the major employee lay-off. Raveendran delved deep into the sponsorship and stated that the deal was to make a social impact. He also called the people spreading the rumours surrounding Messi’s contract as ‘foolish’.
Byju Raveendran said, “The deal with Messi is not a typical sponsorship deal. It is a partnership to create social impact. It was something that we signed 6 months back. It is foolish for people to think that we will pay money for Messi after letting people go.”
There have been many questions about how much Leo Messi is getting paid in through the Byju deal and a marketing veteran, in an interview with BusinessLine gave some numbers about the Sponsorship.
The marketing veteran said, “BYJU’s is estimated to spend about $5-7 million per year for this agreement with Messi, depending on the rights the company is getting. This is in addition to the $30-$40 million that the company must have spent on sponsoring FIFA world cup.”
The Paris Saint-Germain and Argentinian football star signed an agreement with Byju’s to promote the importance of equitable education across the world. As part of the deal, Lionel Messi will be featured in multiple Ad campaigns promoting BYJU’s venture of Education For All.
Earlier this year, BYJU’s also announced that it will be one of the official sponsors of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. Football has a massive audience of 3.5 billion worldwide, while Lionel Messi has a social media following of nearly 450 million, which will bring a new set of consumers towards the Edtech firm.
