Unacademy’s leadership to take salary cuts in FY24

Unacademy’s leadership, including founders, will take salary cuts in FY24 as the edtech firm tries to increase the profitability of its primary business amid tough macroeconomic conditions.

"The salary cut will depend on the current salary of the leader, their scope and performance," Gaurav Munjal, Co-founder and CEO of Unacademy, wrote in an internal memo, seen by YourStory. 

"The salary cuts can go up to 25%. These cuts are permanent and salaries will only be revised in April 2024," Munjal said.

YourStory has reached out to Unacademy for a comment. This story will be updated with the company's response.

This development comes a day after the edtech unicorn laid off 12% of its workforce in another round of job cuts. This week, Unacademy also spun off its coding platform CodeChef, which it acquired in 2020, into an independent business.

The announcement on salary cuts comes at a time when edtech unicorns are witnessing losses, slowing expansion plans, and trying to burn as little cash as possible, amid the funding winter.

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Unacademy lays off 12% of employees in another round of job cuts

Unacademy clocked a loss of Rs 2,848 crore in FY22. The startup’s losses widened by 85% since the previous fiscal year when it reported a loss of Rs 1,537.4 crore.

During FY22, Unacademy spent Rs 1771.6 crore on employee benefits—the largest expense for the edtech firm. This cost has increased by 136.7% since FY21, when the startup spent Rs 748.4 crore on employee benefits. 

Last July, Unacademy, in an email, told its employees that it plans to slash unnecessary expenses to focus on turning profitable as early as possible. A few months prior to that, the edtech firm had urged its employees to adapt and learn to work under constraints.

“Today’s reality is a contrast from two years ago where we saw unprecedented growth because of the accelerated adoption of online learning. Today, the global economy is enduring a recession, funding is scarce and running a profitable business is key. We have to adapt to these changes, build and operate in a much leaner manner so we can truly create value for our users and shareholders,” Munjal wrote in another memo to employees recently.

In recent years, Unacademy has shut down its K12 business, laid off employees, undertaken cost-cutting measures, and entered the offline market.

A recent report by Moneycontrol noted that Unacademy and BYJU'S-owned Aakash are considering a possible merger. However, BYJU'S and Aakash have denied any such move.