BYJU’S may undertake further job cuts: Report

Edtech firm BYJU'S is reportedly planning to downsize its workforce further amid the ongoing conflicts with lenders.

About 1,000 people may be impacted by the fresh round of job cuts, The Morning Context reported. The upcoming layoffs could primarily affect contractual employees working in sales and marketing teams, it added. These contractual employees are usually onboarded via third-party staffing firms.

YourStory could not independently verify the report and has reached out to BYJU'S for a comment.

The layoffs would come at a time when the edtech giant awaits large funding infusion while also entangled in disputes with its creditors over a $1.2-billion term loan B (TLB).

On Tuesday, the Bengaluru-headquartered company submitted a complaint to the New York Supreme Court to contest the acceleration of the loan and seek disqualification of lender, Redwood. 

BYJU’S said it cannot be expected to, and has chosen not to, make any additional payments to the term loan B lenders, including interest, until the dispute is resolved by the court.

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Recently, BYJU'S secured $250 million in fresh funding through structured instruments, maintaining a steady valuation of $22 billion. The company is expected to finalise an additional $700 million capital raise from a sovereign fund at the same valuation.

The edtech unicorn has been plagued with mounting losses, layoffs, and pending loans after the end of the pandemic-led edtech boom. 

This fresh round of layoffs, if it occurs, would follow a series of cost-cutting measures similar to what the edtech firm has been implementing since last year.

In February, YourStory reported that BYJU’S laid off 900 people from across teams. Previously, the company had axed around 2,500 jobs in October.

BYJU’S, which is yet to file its financials for FY22, reported a loss of Rs 4,564.38 crore in FY21—bigger than its FY20 loss, which stood at Rs 305.5 crore.