Byju’s, the world’s most valued ed-tech startup, plans to cut nearly 2,500 or 5% of its employees as part of an “optimisation” plan. The company plans to reduce its workforce over the next six months which is expected to support it in reducing its cost and further help in achieving better unit economics.

“To avoid redundancies and duplication of roles, and by leveraging technology better, around five percent of BYJU’S 50,000-strong workforce is expected to be rationalised across product, content, media, and technology teams in a phased manner,” the company said in a statement.

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In June, the company laid off around 500 employees at its group companies, WhiteHat Jr and Toppr. It was a move to bring cost efficiency, the company said.

Under the optimisation plan, Byju’s looks to target profitability by March 2023 and bring the K10 subsidiaries – Meritnation, TutorVista, Scholar, and HashLearn – under the India business unit. Great Learning and Aakash would function separately. The company is also readjusting marketing spending to expand its global footprint.

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Byju’s reported a loss of Rs 4,588 crore for the financial year that ended March 31, 2021, 19 times more than the previous fiscal year, according to its latest financial report.

“As a mature organisation that takes its responsibility towards investors and stakeholders seriously, we aim to ensure sustainable growth, alongside strong revenue growth,” said Mrinal Mohit, CEO, Byju’s India business. “These measures will help us achieve profitability in the defined time frame of March 2023,” he added.

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In the past three years, Byju’s has acquired several companies whose integration with its core business is now complete.

The ed-tech major, which was last valued at $22 billion, earned Rs 2,428 crore in revenues in the financial year 2020-21. Its adjusted revenue in fiscal 2020 was Rs 2,511 crore and the adjusted loss was Rs 300 crore.

Byju’s has faced intense scrutiny over its accounting practices and an 18-month delay in FY21 results. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs asked the company to explain the delay. The start-up failed to meet three-four deadlines, all self-imposed, for announcing its results.

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Byju Raveendran, founder, and CEO of Byju’s recently told employees that the company has started shifting its focus towards profitable growth. He said that the firm’s financial year 2021-22 revenue was nearly Rs 10,000 crore, or $1.3 billion. “This means we are now a billion-dollar-plus revenue company,” said Raveendran, in a letter addressed to the employees.