Bay Area tech layoffs: Online learning giant to cut 280 employees, rehire in ‘lower-cost’ regions
Bay Area tech layoffs: Online learning giant to cut 280 employees, rehire in ‘lower-cost’ regions
Blog Article
Udemy, the world’s largest online learning marketplace, announced plans to lay off 280 employees, representing approximately 20% of its global workforce. The company said it intends to rehire about half of these positions in locations with lower operational costs.
The San Francisco firm revealed the workforce reduction in a regulatory filing last week, following the announcement of a restructuring plan during its second-quarter earnings call in July. The plan focuses on the “reduction of organizational layers” to enhance efficiency.
According to Udemy, around half of the affected roles will be rehired “primarily in lower-cost geographies.”
The restructuring is expected to incur costs ranging from $16 million to $19 million, mainly in severance payments, and will span from the third fiscal quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025. Udemy aims to complete the restructuring by March 31.
In the second quarter of 2024, Udemy’s total revenue grew 9% year-over-year to $194.4 million, despite a 2 percentage point negative impact from changes in foreign exchange rates. Enterprise segment revenue rose 19% to $120.6 million, while its annual recurring revenue increased 17% to $492.6 million.
However, consumer segment revenue dropped by 4% to $73.8 million, impacted by a 3-percentage point negative effect from foreign exchange rates. The quarter concluded with Udemy holding $422.1 million in cash and equivalents.
“In order to most effectively capture the future market opportunity, we are taking deliberate action to shift our strategic focus and resources upmarket where we see the most significant growth potential and will deliver accelerated profitability as a result,” Greg Brown, Udemy’s President and CEO, said in a statement.
This follows a previous workforce reduction of about 10% last year. According to its annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Udemy had 1,443 full-time employees by the end of 2023.SVG to PDF Code