India-based hospitality chain Oyo Hotels and Homes is laying off 600 employees in its corporate and technology departments.
First reported by Reuters, Softbank-backed Oyo said in a statement it will cut 10% of its 3,700 employees and hire 250. It's not clear which roles the new hires would fill.
As of press time, Oyo has not responded to Hotel News Now when reached for comment.
As part of the restructuring, its product and engineering teams will merge. Teams that were developing pilots and proof of concepts will also be downsized, the news outlet reports.
Oyo CEO Ritesh Agarwal said in the statement obtained by Reuters, "We will be doing all that we can to ensure that most of the people we are having to let go are gainfully employed."
Hotel News Now's Bryan Wroten reported in March 2022 that Oyo President Prasun Choudhary said the past few years gave the company time to rethink its strategy, including how to innovate more on its products and technology.
“We went back to our drawing boards during the quarter and said, ‘How can we implement more products, bring more innovative products on the market and become a much more tech-enabled, tech-first company?’” he said at the time. “And I think that has worked for us.”
In October 2021 Oyo filed to go public but has since delayed the share sale because of market conditions.
Oyo reported a net loss of 3.33 billion Indian rupees ($40.9 million) in the second quarter of its financial year, compared to 4.14 billion rupees in the previous quarter, Reuters reports.