Online ticketing platform BookMyShow has laid off 200 employees as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect businesses. The move comes a year after the company laid off or furloughed 270 employees across its offices in India and globally. This comes back as movie theatres have been shut for a large part of last year.
Taking to Twitter, Ashish Hemrajani, CEO and Co-founder of Bigtree Entertainment Pvt Ltd, which operates BookMyShow, said: "COVID19 has taught me many lessons & I learnt another one today. As we let go of 200 of the most incredibility talented & performance driven individuals, each & everyone has messaged, thanking me for the opportunity, the love for @bookmyshow and asking me if they could help me in any way possible."
Hemrajani further said that he would support the affected staff to get new jobs and also asked for information on any available job opportunities.“These 200 folks were handpicked & curated over years and had surrounded themselves with the highest values of culture, performance and empathy. As the day passed, I had two thoughts, one of managing optics or two - just doing the right thing,” he said.
"And for me, finding each of them a new home, where a new journey can begin, was the easy choice. So if you have leads, please DM me & we will do the needful. They will contribute incredibly to the growth of your wonderful firms. I'm sure we will all come out stronger," the CEO said.
According to reports, 65% of the platform’s revenue used to come from ticketing, and its pay-per-view vertical is still only a small portion.
With the current layoffs, BookMyShow will have less than 1,000 employees. Last year, BookMyShow had given laid off employees severance pay equivalent to a minimum of 2 months of salary irrespective of their tenure or as per notice period, as well as medical insurance cover for affected employees and their nominated family members for a few months. Then too it had given career transition support.