You're not just 5% of my company. You are 5% of me: Byju's CEO on employee layoff

I am truly sorry to those who will have to leave BYJU'S. You are not just a name to me. You are not a number. You are not just five per cent of my company. You are five per cent of me, Byju's CEO.

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New Delhi: Byju's, stated earlier this month that 5 per cent of its 50,000 employees across all divisions would be let go. Aiming to optimise spending and operational costs across areas such as product, content, media, and technology, the unicorn Tech business expects to fire 2,500 workers in the next six months. Byju's has already begun the process of terminating staff and giving a 15-day notice period.

Byju Raveendran, the founder and CEO of the company, apologised in an email to all of the employees. Although he expressed regret and admitted that the company is letting go of many people, the prevailing macroeconomic conditions forced the company to make the choice. Here is the content of the email he sent to Byju's staff. ()

Dear team member,

Over the past couple of weeks, you would have read or heard about our plans to rationalize our team size. Some of you, I understand, might be confused about this or maybe hearing conflicting statements. So, I am writing to you so you hear directly from me on what we are doing, why we are doing it and how I feel about it. ()

First, let me tell you briefly about the rationale behind our current strategic plan. We scaled up quickly and massively across the world in the last four years. 2018 to 2021 were our hypergrowth years when we regularly broke records on every business metric. We also expanded our family significantly both in our core business and by onboarding team members from our acquisitions.

Then 2022 happened. This is the year when many adverse macroeconomic factors changed the business landscape. These have compelled tech companies around the world to focus on sustainability and capital-efficient growth. BYJU is no exception to this trend.

Having expanded exponentially in the past four years, it is now time for us to grow sustainably. So, we decided to define our 'path to profitability and sustainable growth - and to walk on it in earnest.

I am truly sorry to those who will have to leave BYJU'S. You are not just a name to me. You are not a number. You are not just five per cent of my company. You are five per cent of me.

Yours faithfully,

Byju Raveendran

Founder & CEO

BYJU'S