The troubles for edtech platform Byju’s are not showing any signs of abating. The valuation of a company that once had a net worth of $22 billion has fallen below $3 billion. Meaning 86% of the market valuation has been cleared. This time, Prosus, a long-term investor of the company, has used scissors in the market valuation.
Describing the results of the first half of FY24, Prosus’ interim CEO Ervin Tu said, ‘We will not release the exact figure, but for us it is less than $3 billion.’
In June this year, Prosus had reduced Byju’s valuation to $5.14 billion. Netherlands company Prosus had invested $536 million in Byju’s in 2018 and took a 9.6% stake.
Prosus said that till September 2022, ‘it has not influenced the financial and operating policies of Byju’s.’
Overall, Prosus’s internal rate of return has been badly hit by investing in some big underperforming companies, including Byju’s and Pharmeasy.
However, Prosus’ India payments business is doing well due to good performance of PayU’s payments and credit card business.
Issuing a press release, Prosus said, ‘For Prosus, India is the largest market in the PSP segment, in which the company’s share is 48%. PayU saw significant growth in its earnings during H1FY24, which includes its merchants Wibmo and perpetual businesses.
New problems have been added to Byju’s problems in the last two weeks, when BCCI filed an insolvency petition against the company in NCLT.
