Prosus marks $493 mn loss in Byju’s, writes off stake

BENGALURU: Investment firm Prosus on Monday said it has written off its 9.6% stake in Byju’s. In its FY24 annual report, the Naspers-owned firm said a fair value loss of $493 million was recognised in other comprehensive income in the current year.

In a statement, Prosus said, “We impaired Byju’s mark down to zero at the end of FY24. The fair value written down was $493 mn for FY24. We have written down Byju’s because we have inadequate information on Byju’s financial health, liabilities, and future outlook.”

The investment firm has invested over $500 million in the edtech firm, and this write off comes at a time when the edtech firm has been struggling with various challenges including the ongoing legal troubles.

Recently, in a note financial firm HSBC assigned zero value to Prosus’ 9.6% stake in Byju’s. It said, “We assign zero value to Byju’s stake amid multiple legal cases and funding crunch.” It added in the note, “Previously, we valued around 10% stake in Byju’s by applying an 80% discount to the latest publicly disclosed valuation.”

The edtech firm was once valued at $22 billion, and in November last year, Prosus had marked down the firm’s valuation to less than $3 billion. In January this year, US-based asset manager BlackRock slashed Byju’s valuation to $1 billion as of October 2023.