BYJU’S Again Misses Deadline To Clear Dues Of Laid-Off Employees

Embattled edtech major BYJU’S has reportedly once again delayed the full and final settlements of its laid-off employees.

It is pertinent to note that the company has laid off thousands of employees in multiple rounds since 2022. The most recent firings happened last month, in which almost 600 employees from the content and marketing teams were laid off. 

While it remains unclear as to how many employees BYJU’S has laid off since the start of 2022, Inc42 estimates the figure to be at least 4,100 across three rounds.

As per a recent report by Moneycontrol, the publication reached out to around 60 ex-BYJU’S employees. Of the 48 who responded, 40 were yet to receive their full and final settlement. The edtech had reportedly promised to pay these employees by November 17.

Meanwhile, a source aware of the development informed the publication that the company is making the payments ‘in a phased manner’. While BYJU’S reportedly settled the payments due in October, at least 10 ex-employees laid off in June-July were yet to receive their final settlements.

Inc42 has reached out to BYJU’S for details on the matter and will update the story as and when the edtech major responds.

The development comes as the newly appointed CEO of BYJU’S India operations, Arjun Mohan, initiated a restructuring effort expected to impact 4,000-5,000 jobs. Over the past year, the edtech giant has come under fire for multiple employee-related issues as it continues to fire employees to save costs.

BYJU’S, which has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons for the past year and a half, had a silver lining moment as it overcame a longstanding issue with the US-based lender Davidson Kempner. Earlier this month, Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai bought out the debt investment by the US hedge fund.

The edtech giant is also said to be in talks with the steering committee of its $1.2 Bn Term Loan B to restructure the debt. BYJU’S is also looking to sell its US-based subsidiaries Great Learning and Epic to raise up to $1 Bn to pay off debt and fuel operations.

BYJU’S, which is yet to file its detailed financial results for FY22 and has missed multiple deadlines for it, said earlier this month it posted a total standalone income of INR 3,569 Cr as against INR 1,552 Cr in FY21. Meanwhile, EBITDA loss decreased to INR 2,253 Cr in FY22 from INR 2,406 Cr in FY21.