BYJU'S to fire 1,000 employees soon, says report

Edtech major BYJU'S will soon fire as many as 1,000 employees to cut costs, said a report on Wednesday. The move will hurt the sales and marketing teams the most at BYJU’S, which was valued at $22 billion in its last funding round, reported The Morning Context.

Marketing executives are on third-party payrolls of companies such as Channelplay and Randstad, the report added.

BYJU'S move would come close on the heels of the Byju Raveendran-led company skipping a quarterly interest payment of about $40 million earlier this week on a $1.2-billion term loan B (TLB).

BYJU'S filed a suit against investment management firm Redwood to challenge the acceleration of a $1.2 billion term loan B facility and disqualify the lender for its "predatory tactics," the company said on Tuesday.

BYJU'S, which filed the suit in the New York Supreme Court, said Redwood purchased a significant portion of the loan while primarily trading in distressed debt, which was contrary to the conditions of the term loan facility.

BYJU'S also issued a notice to Redwood entities disqualifying the investment firm as a lender with critical rights under the term loan norms once it takes effect, the company said in a statement.

"We had to take these measures following a series of predatory tactics by the lenders, led by Redwood," the startup said.

In October 2022, BYJU's said it will axe 2,500 employees by March 2023.