Beleaguered BYJU’S Shows Door To Another 100 Employees

SUMMARY

A BYJU’S spokesperson said the decision to let go of employees was neither a cost-cutting measure nor a layoff exercise

While the company said only 100 employees were impacted, media reports put the number at over 400

The development comes as BYJU’S has been fighting a war on multiple fronts, including cash flow issues, legal trouble with lenders and multiple rounds of layoffs, among others

Edtech giant BYJU’S has let go of 100 employees as part of a performance review after having put the said employees on a performance improvement plan (PIP).

A spokesperson of the embattled edtech company said the decision to let go of employees was neither a cost-cutting measure nor a layoff exercise.

“There are no fresh layoffs in the post sale division… However, as part of a periodical performance review, 100 individuals who did not meet expectations after a performance improvement plan, were let go with proper procedures,” the spokesperson said.

The impacted employees were from the post-sale division at BYJU’S.

“In fact, during the past two months, as part of our commitment to augmenting this division, BYJU’S has recruited 200 new professionals,” the BYJU’S spokesperson added.

However, as per media reports, over 400 employees from the mentoring and product expert divisions were impacted by the company’s move.

The development was first reported by Moneycontrol.

The development comes as the edtech giant has been fighting a war on multiple fronts, including cash flow issues, legal trouble with lenders, multiple rounds of layoffs, the resignation of board members, valuation markdowns and delayed financial reporting, among others.

Over the past few months, the edtech giant has fired at least 2,600 employees, including the latest round of retrenchments. This figure is verified by Inc42, while the number may be well above 5,000 as per various media reports.

However, the edtech decacorn recently received some relief in terms of restructuring its massive debt. The company remains in talks with the lenders of both its $1.2 Bn Term Loan B (TLB) and the $250 Mn credit line provided by Davidson Kempner.

Many of BYJU’S problems seem to stem from the long delay in filing its financial statements. It is yet to file its financial statements for FY22. In FY21, its net loss soared to INR 4,588 Cr. The company published its FY21 results also after a long delay in September last year.