Why Byju's sacking hundreds of employees at one go

Edtech giant Byju’s group firm Toppr has sacked 1,100 staff earlier this week by calling them and asking them to put down their papers, news agency PTI reported. This comes amid reports of Whitehat Jr, another Byju’s firm, sacking around 300 employees. The numbers are not confirmed as Byju’s claimed that not more than 500 employees have been sacked across the companies under Byju’s.

About 36% of Toppr’s workforce has been sacked, a person associated with the Chemistry subject matter expert team told PTI, adding that the entire team where he worked has been laid off. “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,” the person said.

Byju’s acquired Toppr for about $150 million in July last year. And the $300 million acquisition of Whitehat Jr took place in 2020.

According to experts, all edtech companies are struggling after physical classes resumed as online classes are no match to physical classes. An employee of Toppr who got laid off said, “We have been getting some indication about low business after offline classes resumed across the country. I have worked at Whitehat Jr also. Online education is unable to match offline class. ”

Byju’s spokesperson said the decision has been taken to recalibrate the business priorities and optimise the teams.

Meanwhile, Byju’s has offered to buy 2U Inc. in a cash deal that values the US-listed edtech company at more than $1 billion, a person familiar with the matter said. On the other hand, according to reports, Byju’s pushed back payments for an approximately $1 billion acquisition of test-preparation provider Aakash Educational Services struck last year