An advertisement of WhiteHat Jr portraying a 6th standard boy showing his coding skills caught the eyes of viewers. It suddenly became a matter of discussion among the parents. It attained more focus because the government announced NEP with an emphasis on coding introduction at a junior level. As a result, WhiteHat Jr received positive response and heavy enrolment. But now, it is moving towards its downfall and BYJU’s is unable to save it.
Will WhiteHat Jr shut down?
It was recently reported that BYJU’s has decided to pull the plug on the coding Edutech platform WhiteHat Jr This development has left employees of the company at unrest. It is assumed that the company will clear the decision for the employees in the coming days.
However, BYJUs has clarified that it has no intentions to shut the coding platform. BYJUs officials told ANI that, “we are merely optimising it for organic and efficient growth. We remain fully committed to delivering world-class education experiences and solutions that empower students to achieve their full potential.”
BYJUs also told ANI that, “As an ongoing activity, we are actively evaluating all our business units to ensure that they are aligned with our path to profitability.”
Fragile financial condition
It is worth noting here that BYJUs will not be able to achieve group level profitability till the deadline in March 2023. In the previous year it was valued at $22 billion.
Talking about the performance of WhiteHat Jr, BYJUs acquired the platform for $300 million in July 2020. In the financial year 2021, it recorded a huge loss of Rs.1,690 crore while its expenditure sored to Rs. 2,175 crores compared to Rs. 69.7 crores in FY 2020.
In April-May last year, 1000 contractual based employees resigned. Further, many more employees either resigned or were laid off.
It also shut down its school division that sought training 10 lakh students in coding by the next academic year.
A move to sustain share value
Although, BYJUs has denied any possibility of shutting WhiteHat Jr, the fiscal condition of BYJUs and WhiteHat Jr clearly explains that they are not in a condition to survive. Sooner or later the operations of WhiteHat Jr and BYJUs will cease.
In line of that, BYJUs’ clarification seems to be intended to stop any deterioration in its market value. As the news could trigger devaluation of its share during the end of fiscal year 2023.
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