Byju's To Lay Off Additional Employees
According to media reports, edtech firm Byju's will lay off more employees as it embarks on another cost-cutting effort to further streamline operations.
Many of this has impacted personnel are contractual staff of on-ground sales teams from third-party staffers such as Randstad and Channelplay.
Byju's hires and fires contractual staff based on seasonality and business demand. The expense cut comes on the heels of the corporation missing a quarterly interest payment of around $40 million on a USD 1.2 billion term loan that is the subject of litigation earlier this week.
The layoffs are the latest in a series of cost-cutting exercises started by Byju's since last year to streamline operations, as digital K-12 (kindergarten to grade 12) education enterprises struggle to recruit new clients.
Byju's laid off roughly 1,000 people earlier this year, including many in top strategy, technology, and product responsibilities.
Last October, the company cut off at least 2,500 employees in one of the largest personnel "rationalisation" procedures by an Indian startup. Earlier this week, Byju's sued lender Redwood, an American investment management corporation, and its affiliated organisations in the New York Supreme Court for speeding the repayment of its term loan.
The edtech company also "opted" not to make any further payments to the term loan lenders until the case is resolved in court.
Following a default earlier this year, the General Atlantic-backed company has been fighting another action in a Delaware court against lenders who have sought to take over its US entity, Byju's Alpha, by putting their representative in control.
Its decision to go to court came after weeks of unsuccessful conversations with the lenders to establish new loan arrangements.
In a filing dated March 31, 2023, BlackRock, a minority shareholder with less than 1 per cent of Byju's, marked down the company's valuation to USD 8.29 billion. It was the second time in recent months that BlackRock had reduced its estimate.
