OYO Hotels is cutting its global workforce by around 5000 to 25000 people, with the deepest reductions in China after business there crumbled in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Indian startup, one of the largest in the SoftBank Group Corp, the portfolio is reducing the staff in China, the US, and its home country as it seeks to boost profitability. OYO expanded rapidly after its founding in 2013 and reached a valuation of $10 billion, but investors have soured on money-losing businesses after the WeWork meltdown, and SoftBank has pushed portfolio companies to even prioritize profitability.
“In our previous phase, we added a lot of properties to our platform and built the brand and mindshare,” said founder and Chief Executive Officer Ritesh Agarwal in an interview. “Our first focus of 2020 is growth with profitability.”
“By the time our restructuring process is complete, OYO will have over 25,000 employees worldwide,” he said.
“In China, the coronavirus has hit us and in specific provinces, we are trying hard to keep hotels open, as many as possible,” said Agarwal. “It’s a tough time for our hotel partners.”
