Edtech major Byju’s is expected to let go of more staffers as it embarks on another cost cutting exercise to streamline operations further, sources told ET, requesting anonymity in order to speak freely.

Many of these employees are contractual staff across on-ground sales teams, which it onboards through third-party staffers.

The cost correction comes right on the heels of the company skipping a quarterly interest payment of about $40 million earlier this week on a $1.2 billion term loan B (TLB), which is the subject of litigation.

Also read | Byju’s and the debt trap haunting Indian tech startups

While ET could not ascertain the total employee count affected by this move, a report by news site Morning Context, which first broke the news, pegged the number at 1,000 staffers.

“It is no surprise that Byju’s is looking to cut costs now, especially when growth has completely stalled, and the focus for them is on building a hybrid play with Aakash. It seems like a hybrid strategy is one of the last straws left for online edtech as it gets harder to sell online courses,” said a person who spoke to ET on condition of anonymity.

A Byju’s spokesperson declined to comment on ET’s queries on the matter.Also read | Byju’s lenders scrap talks to restructure $1.2 billion loan

The layoffs add to back-to-back cost-cutting exercises Byju’s has initiated since last year to streamline operations, with digital K-12 (kindergarten to grade 12) education businesses finding it difficult to acquire new customers.

Earlier this year, Byju’s had dismissed around 1,000 employees including many in senior strategy, technology and product roles.

Last October, the company had sacked at least 2,500 employees, in one of the largest ‘rationalisation exercises’ by an Indian startup in terms of headcount.

Growing troubles

Earlier this week, Byju’s had also sued lender Redwood, an American investment management firm, and its related entities, in the New York Supreme Court for accelerating the repayment of its term loan.

The edtech firm also “elected” to not make any further payments to the TLB lenders till the matter is settled in court.

Separately, the General Atlantic-backed company has been fighting another lawsuit in a Delaware court against lenders who have proposed to take over its US entity, Byju’s Alpha, by putting their representative in charge after the default earlier this year.

The edtech company’s latest move to go to court comes after weeks of negotiations with the lenders to finalise new terms for the loan failed.

Last month, BlackRock, a minority shareholder with less than a 1% stake in Byju’s, wrote down the edtech’s valuation to $8.29 billion, in a filing dated March 31, 2023 reviewed by ET. It was the second time that BlackRock had marked down the edtech major’s valuation in recent months.

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