Byju's on Thursday said that less than 500 people have been laid off at its group companies Whitehat Jr and Toppr, but sacked employees have claimed that 1,100 staff had been retrenched at Toppr alone.
The layoff at Toppr comes alongside Byju's group firm Whitehat Jr retrenching 300 employees in addition to the resignation of 250 employees from the company in April-May, Indian Media NDTV reports.
Amid news of edtech company Byju's has laid off 2,500 employees across its group companies, as reported in the media, the company issued a statement saying, it was optimising its teams across group companies.
The company added that the "entire exercise involves less than 500 employees across Byju's group companies".
"We strongly deny the misinformation presented by Moneycontrol. To recalibrate our business priorities and accelerate our long-term growth, we are optimizing our teams across our group companies. This entire exercise involves less than 500 employees from across Byju's group companies," a company spokesperson said.
Toppr's sacked employees said that they got a call from the company on June 27 and were asked to resign, failing which they will be terminated without any notice period.
Whitehat Jr spokesperson said that the decision has been taken to realign business priorities and accelerate results with a focus on long-term growth.
A Bloomberg report showed that Byju's was delaying payments for an approximately $1 billion acquisition deal finalised last year, citing sources familiar with the development.
According to the Moneycontrol report, Byju's is looking to cut costs with demand for edtech services moderating after two years of excessive growth.
“Byju's has laid off full-time and contractual employees from Toppr, WhiteHat Jr, and its core team across sales and marketing, operations, content and design teams,” the Moneycontrol report quoting sources said.
