Ola fired its CEO Hemant Bakshi, just four months after his appointment, and is cutting around 180 jobs, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The Indian ride-hailing startup’s move is aimed at “improving profitability,” founder Bhavish Aggarwal told employees in an email seen by TechCrunch on Monday.
The Bangalore-based startup, which counts SoftBank and Tiger Global among its backers, is undergoing a “restructuring exercise” to prepare for its “next phase of growth,” Aggarwal, pictured above, wrote in the email .
The move follows Ola shutting down its operations in the UK, Australia and New Zealand earlier this month. Bakshi, a former HUL executive, was appointed Ola’s chief executive in January this year.
You can read Aggarwal’s email in full below.
Dear All,
In line with our vision to serve 1 billion Indians and our commitment to drive sustainable growth and improve efficiency across the organization, we are undertaking a restructuring exercise aimed at improving profitability and increasing our prepare for the next phase of growth.
We have made substantial investments in the areas of AI and technology, which has led to significant cost benefits and we will continue to focus on these areas to ensure that we are building cutting-edge products and services in all our sectors of activity.
These changes will result in the layoffs of certain positions within the company. This decision was not taken lightly and we are committed to supporting those affected during this transition period.
Hemant will step down as CEO to pursue opportunities outside the company. We express our gratitude to Hemant for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavours.
I am very confident in the strong management team we have built over the last few years at Ola Consumer, who bring a lot of experience and expertise to their respective roles. They will work closely with me to drive technology-led growth.
We are committed to transparency and open communication throughout this process. Our HR team would be available to answer any questions or concerns you may have.
Thank you for your dedication and unwavering commitment to Ola.
Best,
Bhavish
techcrunch
