Byju’s faces flak for signing Messi as brand ambassador after firing 2,500 employees

Byju’s announced that it has signed Lionel Messi – one of the world’s highest-paid footballers - as its global brand ambassador just days after sacking 2,500 employees. While the news delighted fans of Messi, it also led to scathing criticism against the world’s most valued edtech startup.

In a message to employees last week, Byju’s founder and chief executive Byju Raveendran said the firing of about 5% of its workforce had been necessitated to avoid role duplication and reduce redundancies as the company focuses on profitability.

"We are working hard towards achieving profitability at the group level in this financial year itself," he wrote. "Our rapid organic and inorganic growth has created some inefficiencies, redundancies and duplication within our organization, that we need to rationalize to realize this." And in doing so, the company is laying off 2,500 employees or 5 percent of the staff strength.

Earlier this week, the edtech firm announced that it had roped in football star Lionel Messi as its Global Brand Ambassador for its "Education for All" social initiative.

While the monetary endorsements of this partnership could not be ascertained immediately, the announcement did not sit well with many on social media. Backlash against Byju’s was swift and unforgiving as people questioned how the company could afford to sign on one of the world’s highest-paid athletes but had to fire employees to cut costs:

Twitter laying off people without basic courtesy and Byjus roping in Messi as an ambassador after laying off people, what dystopian Black mirror episode is this?

— Neerja Shah (@Neerjargon) November 4, 2022

Byjus announcing Messi as their global whatever when its CEO two days ago apologised to his employees that they let go is the reason you all should think twice before jumping to defend rich guys they do not care about you, they care about money; you're just a data point to them — shubham (@imajokin) November 4, 2022

Byju's:

Story continues below Advertisement

Remove Ad

Morning: Ah, let's sponsor the Indian National Cricket Team, we're rich! Afternoon: Ah, let's sign Messi as our brand ambassador, we're rich! Evening: Dear 2,500+ people who work 12-14 hours a day, we're sorry we don't have money for your employment. You're laid off. — Pratik (@arrestomomenta) November 4, 2022

How can Byju’s simultaneously fire scores of people and hire Messi as some sort of brand ambassador? — Ajay Kamath (@ajay43) November 5, 2022

#byjus signing Messi as brand ambassador for world cup after incurring 2,702.14 crore losses and LITRELALLY having to shut down 3 offices in a month pic.twitter.com/audKwbZ5wA

— Abhishek (@costanzalifee) November 4, 2022

So basically @BYJUS fired almost 50% of their employees to hire this man. What an amazing set of priorities @BYJUS have (pun intended) pic.twitter.com/8apMSFqRkp — Rohit Survase (@RohitSurvase12) November 4, 2022

Byju Raveendran had apologised to his employees for the layoffs, saying: “I am truly sorry to those who will have to leave Byju’s. You are not just a name to me, You are not a number. You are not just five percent of my company, you are five percent of me.”

“What others see as ‘layoff’, I only see as time off. Bringing you back by putting our company on a sustainable growth path will now be the number one priority for me,” said Raveendran.

He blamed macroeconomic factors for forcing the company to cut costs.