Chinese media goes to town on Oyo layoffs, company denies it

NEW DELHI: Oyo Hotels & Homes has sacked an undisclosed number of employees at its Chinese subsidiary Oyo Jiudian, two Chinese media outlets said, although a company spokesperson refuted the claims, terming them “absolutely incorrect.”

Oyo plans to lay off about 1,000 employees from its Chinese development team, Pandaily, which covers technology and startups, reported on Tuesday citing sources. The Beijing- and Silicon Valley-based media outlet said the Oyo team has 2,000-3,000 employees.

On Monday, Yicai Global also tweeted about layoffs at the company, saying Anuj Tejpal, the chief business development officer at Oyo, had signed off on the same. Yicai Global is the English-language news service of Yicai Media Group, the financial news arm of the Shanghai Media Group, according to its website.


An Oyo spokesperson, however, told ET: "Facts are being twisted and misrepresented. In the last few months, we have hired over 1,500 people and will have over 10,000 full-time employees. The resumption of any letting go is wrong, where regular monthly performance reviews are being twisted and reported out of context."

In a written statement, Oyo said it would allocate $100 million for customer experience, and quality and systems improvements in China, which it considers a home market alongside India. The allocation is the first tranche of its earlier commitment to invest $600 million in the world’s second-largest economy. “We have also created jobs for over 200,000 people in China and will continue to be a leading job creator in China for years to come,” the spokesperson said.

The reported layoffs come a little more than two months after Oyo Jiudian said it fired 25 employees and issued warnings to over 100 more, as it sought to crack down on “unethical practices”. The hospitality company, which commanded a valuation of $5 billion in its Series-E funding round, said in April that it had formed an integrity committee to weed out instances of misconduct and unethical practices, while continuing to double down on corporate governance and ensuring compliance across levels.

“Oyo China intends to lead by example and hence took this bold initiative to set up this integrity committee. While this may seem harsh and unpopular and has already elicited some reactions, the best decisions are the hardest ones,” Sam Shih, chief operating officer at Oyo China, said at the time.