Byju's Denies 2,500 Employees Being Sacked, Says Only 500 Impacted: Report

The development comes days after it was reported that Byju's was delaying payments for an approximately $1 billion acquisition deal finalised last year

Amid the signs of funding winter for Indian start-ups owing to global financial conditions, edtech major Byju's has sacked about 500 employees at its group companies, including WhiteHat Jr and Toppr, according to a report by Business Standard.

The company, which is aiming to go public by next year, is likely to opt for a primary listing in the US and a secondary one in India or vice-versa, according to the report. Both the US and India are key markets for Byju’s. The downsizing may continue across various department functions, sources told the publication.

In a separate report by Moneycontrol, the company has laid off around 2,500 employees. However, the Bengaluru-based edtech company has denied that these many people are fired. “To recalibrate our business priorities and accelerate our long-term growth, we are optimising our teams across group companies. This entire exercise involves less than 500 employees from across Byju’s group companies,” the report quoted the company spokesperson.

On the other hand PTI reported that Byju's group firm Toppr has laid off 1,100 staff or about 36 per cent of its workforce from the company earlier this week, according to some of the employees who have been hit by the decision.

Toppr's sacked employees said that they got a call from the company on Monday and were asked to resign, failing which they will be terminated without any notice period.

"I am part of the Chemistry subject matter expert. My entire team has been laid off. Toppr has promised 1 month salary for those who resign and no salary for those who don't," a Toppr employee, who did not wish to be named, told PTI.

More than 800 employees of WhiteHat Jr, resigned after being asked to work from office. The reopening of schools and colleges has impacted the edtech sector with falling valuations, slowing funding rounds and faltering investor sentiment.

The development comes days after a Bloomberg reported Byju's was delaying payments for an approximately $1 billion acquisition deal finalised last year, citing it sources. Byju's acquired Delhi-based offline test preparatory services provider Aakash for $1 billion last year.

Among others, edtech unicorn Unacademy recently laid off about 600 employees and Vedantu 424. Edtech start-up Lido Learning has shut down altogether.

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