No plans of shutting down WhiteHat Jr: BYJU'S spokesperson
1 min read 23 Feb 2023, 02:48 PM ISTA BYJU's spokesperson said that the company is merely optimising Whitehat Jr for ‘organic and efficient growth’
PremiumBYJU's, which grappled with mounting losses after the pandemic-era boom in online tutoring petered out, denied any plans to shut down one of its acquisitions, coding platform WhiteHat Jr. A company spokesperson said that BYJU's is merely optimising Whitehat Jr for “organic and efficient growth".
WhiteHat Jr is owned by edtech major BYJU's, which acquired the startup firm for $300 million in 2020.
“We have no plans of shutting it down. We are merely optimizing it for organic and efficient growth," a BYJU'S spokesperson said amid reports that the edtech major has been in talks in recent weeks about shutting down the coding platform.
"At the group level, in accordance with its steadfast commitment towards achieving operational profitability, BYJU'S is constantly evaluating and optimizing its business operations towards global growth," the spokesperson said.
As an ongoing activity, the company is actively evaluating all of their business units to ensure that they are aligned with the path to profitability.
"We remain fully committed to delivering world-class educational experiences and solutions that empower students to achieve their full potential," BYJU'S spokesperson noted.
WhiteHat Jr laid off nearly 300 employees
Almost a year back, the e-learning startup laid off nearly 300 employees globally as the sector continues to witness restructuring and cost cutting across major edtech firms.
The downsizing has affected employees both in India and other geographies, where the code-teaching platform operates.
The number of employees in WhiteHat Jr who have been asked to leave across Brazil and India could be as much as 600.
Also, more than 800 employees of WhiteHat Jr had resigned in March and April last year after being asked to 'work from office'.
WhiteHat Jr has been running on losses. It reported a total loss of ₹1,690 crore in FY21. Between 1 April, 2020 to 31 March, 2021, the startup earned ₹483.9 crore from its operations, while posting a total expense of ₹2,175.2 crore.
Expenses shot up as the company was spending to expand globally, especially in the US, according to a Mint report.
The earlier-than-anticipated departure of founder Karan Bajaj meant that some of the milestone-related payments promised to Whitehat Jr. founder were not fully paid, but this did not reduce the cost of the $300 million cost of acquisition.
