BENGALURU: Edtech company Byju’s will lay off nearly 4,000 employees over the coming weeks, sources told this newspaper. This will be a part of the restructuring exercise under the new CEO Arjun Mohan. According to sources, the layoff will happen over a few months and might not include the company’s subsidiaries. These job cuts are expected to impact sales and marketing, among other areas.
The company has already laid off nearly 3,500 employees over the past year. Eyeing profitability, in October last year, the company had to let go of 5% of its workforce or about 2,500 employees, and again in June this year, the company sacked nearly 1,000 employees.
The company has been delaying the full and final settlement for many of the fired employees. In a statement to this newspaper, BYJU’S spokesperson said, “We are in the final stages of a business restructuring exercise to simplify operating structures, reduce the cost base and better cash flow management.” Byju’s new India chief executive officer Arjun Mohan will be completing this process in the next few weeks and will steer a revamped and sustainable operation ahead, the spokesperson added.
This decision comes at a time when the company is facing a turbulent phase with legal battles, term loan B lenders issues and delays in filing its FY22 results.
Already, many top-level executives have left the education technology company, and on the other hand, the company recruited many executives including Infosys veteran Richard Lobo as an exclusive advisor to help transform the company’s Human Resources function. Former State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar and former CFO of Infosys TV Mohandas Pai recently joined the company’s newly constituted Advisory Council.
In order to cut costs, in July, the edtech firm had cut down on its office spaces in Bengaluru. The company had vacated an office in Kalyani Tech Park and also vacated two floors at Prestige Tech Park, Bengaluru.
Byju’s is also planning to repay the $1.2 billion term loan B within the next six months. It will clear the loan amount by selling Great Learning and Epic, which were acquired in 2021.
Eliminating jobs
The edtech firm is likely to sell two of its subsidiaries to repay $1.2 bn loan