Byju’s To Cut Nearly 4,500 Jobs, Senior Roles To Be Affected: Report

The company, led by the recently appointed CEO Arjun Mohan, is planning to merge it’s business verticals and conduct further layoffs as part of it's restructuring to reduce costs.

Indian edtech giant Byju’s is looking at restructuring it’s business further, by reducing it’s workforce by 4,000 to 4,500 people to save on operational costs, an Economic Times report said on Wednesday. The company, led by the recently appointed CEO Arjun Mohan, is planning to merge it’s business verticals and conduct further layoffs, the report noted citing anonymous sources. 

Arjun Mohan took charge at the helm of Byju’s India business last week. The report stated that he briefed the senior executives in the company about his plans to restructure the firm and roll out changes later this week or by next week. These layoffs would include both permanent and contractual employees at Think & Learn, the edtech’s parent company, and would not cover any of the firm’s subsidiaries, sources mentioned in the report informed. Further, a major chunk of senior positions will be included in these layoffs, sources claimed. 

Elaborating on the changes, the report cited one of the sources and said, “They (Byju’s) want to bring more students to offline centres and that’s the main way the new management has identified to run operations that can sustain over a period of time.” 

Another source noted that the company recruited senior executives at huge salaries during the pandemic-induced boost in the edtech sector. “A major difference in the new job cuts compared to before is that senior roles are being cut this time. This would lead to leaner structures and of course, save costs in the current environment,” the source added. Further, the new structure is expected to impact a major section of employees in the PIP (performance improvement plan), the person noted. 

A spokesperson for the company, when contacted by ET, said, “We are in the final stages of a business restructuring exercise to simplify operating structures, reduce the cost base, and better cash flow management. Byju’s new India CEO, Arjun Mohan, will be completing this process in the next few weeks and will steer a revamped and sustainable operation ahead.” But the spokesperson didn’t comment on specific restructuring questions. 

Byju’s intends to reduce operating costs to complete repayment of the $1.2 billion term loan B, the report noted. The plan is to narrow down the company’s India business to just two verticals, the K12 and test preparations, and merge the remaining verticals into these two segments, people aware of the matter told ET. 

Elaborating on the verticals, the source added, “Byju’s Tuition Centre, live programmes, home tuitions… these verticals are getting merged. Mohan, in sync with company founder Byju Raveendran, has mandated they need to focus on profitable growth, and all changes are linked to that. UPSC, CAT, and GATE are profitable segments along with NEET and JEET. These would be the focus areas.”

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