Byju’s promises to halt layoffs till August-end: Sources

Edtech giant Byju’s may put a hold on layoffs till the end of August, chief content officer Vinay Ravindra is believed to have told employees working in the company’s main Bengaluru office in IBC Knowledge Park, Bannerghatta during a floor level meeting on Monday. This comes on a day when a group of Byju’s lenders agreed to change the terms of the contentious $1.2 billion Term B Loan the company has been struggling to pay back.

The company, criticised for laying off of nearly 5,000 employees (including 1,000 earlier this month) seems to have offered an olive branch as a temporary reprieve. It remains unclear, if it will resume pruning its workforce post-August.

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Just last week, the firm had committed, in an emergency townhall, that it will not layoff employees working for its tuition centre vertical after they threatened to hold a protest over speculated job cuts.

However, even during Monday’s meeting, Ravindra failed to give “satisfactory answers” to employees’ concerns about pending annual appraisals. He said that variable pay may also take up to 3-6 months to be processed. Yet, they were asked to put their best foot forward and stay motivated to work.

According to insiders, besides layoffs, the country’s most valued unicorn has also been letting go of office space in Bengaluru as it scrambles to bolster liquidity and secure fresh funding. Several office spaces in the city have been vacated recently, including a 5.58 lakh square feet property in Kalyani Tech Park and a floor it had rented in IBC Knowledge Park, multiple employees confirmed to DH.

While two more floors have been leased by the company in this premises, most employees have been shifted to a single floor and there is speculation that another may be vacated soon. The company has also given up two out of nine floors it had in Prestige Tech Park, sources said.

“Byju’s has over 3 million square feet of rented spaces across the country to support its requirements. Expansion and reduction in office space is based on changes in working policies and business priorities which is very regular and is aimed at boosting operational efficiencies,” a company spokesperson said.

The company’s financial woes made headlines when it defaulted on a $40 million interest payment related to a $1.2 billion term loan and instead challenged the revised terms before New York Supreme Court in June this year. In a positive development, the lender’s have now come round and agreed to work toward a “signed and completed” amendment before August 3, as per a statement issued by them.

Byju’s had in March last year raised $800 million at a valuation of $22 billion, and counts Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), Prosus and Sofina among its investors. In the 10 years of its existence, the company has raised nearly $5 billion in multiple investment rounds.

However, its valuation was earlier this year slashed to $8.4 million, and three key investor representatives stepped down from its board last month. At the same time, its auditor Deloitte also exited the company as accounting irregularities came to the fore.

Even the assurances offered by Ravindra on Monday were a little muted. “Are we absolutely clear on all the businesses? No, it will take a little more time and effort, but we are not too far away. In fact, some of our early investors are also basically coming back and are looking to reinvest,” he said.