Unacademy founders, top deck to take pay cut
BENGALURU: A day after firing 12% of its workforce or about 380 employees, edtech major Unacademy’s leadership team including its founders will take a permanent salary cut. In an internal memo to employees, Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO, of Unacademy Group, said the salary cut will depend on the current salary of the leader, their scope and performance.
“The salary cuts can go up to 25%. These cuts are permanent and the salaries will only be revised in April 2024,” he said in the note, reviewed by TNIE. Unacademy started sharpening its focus on profitability in July last year. Munjal had said that founders and management will take a pay cut and that they will also stop offering complimentary snacks and meals across its offices.
Last year, Munjal in a note to employees said, “Even though we have more than Rs 2,800 crore in the bank, we are not efficient at all. We spend crores on travel for employees and educators. Sometimes it’s needed, sometimes it’s not. There are a lot of unnecessary expenses that we do. We must cut all these expenses. We have a strong core business. We must turn profitable asap.”
The edtech unicorn has conducted four rounds of layoffs so far in the past year and it has fired over 1,500 employees. Founded in 2015, the company has raised $878 million so far and according to Tracxn, its annual revenue stood at $103 million in FY22 up from $57 million in FY21. However, its loss stood at $348 million in FY22 from $188 million in the year-ago period. In September last year, it acquired GATE Academy and launched 50 YouTube education channels.