Meesho fires 251 workers and blames the mistake on overhiring.

SoftBank-backed e-commerce startup Meesho has cut 15 per cent of its workforce, firing 251 employees, the company’s co-founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey said in an email to its employees, as seen by ReTale.

“I have difficult news to share…We are reducing the size of the Meeshoworkforce by 15%, affecting 251 employees,” Aatrey’s email read.

Citing reasons for layoffs, he said that the leaders of the company made errors in over-hiring ahead of the curve and the organisation structure could have been managed in a more effective and lean manner.

Since last year Meesho has been on a cost-cutting strategy to turn profitable by the mid of 2023. “We grew by 10X from 2020 to 2022, helped by COVID tailwinds and aggressive investments. Even as we tracked to our plans, the macro climate undeniably and considerably changed,” said Aatrey adding that as a result, the e-commerce firm had to accelerate its timeline to profitability and readjust its GMV growth goals to 30 per cent YoY under Project Redbull.

In an official statement, the company said, “We are committed to ensuring all those impacted have our full support and will be provided a separation package that includes a one-time severance payment of 2.5 to 9 months (depending on tenor and designation), continued insurance benefits, job placement support and accelerated vesting of ESOPs.”