The Silicon Review ^Asia

Oyo, the world’s fastest growing hotel chainis laying off thousands of its employees in India.“The move is part of a larger priority to drive profitability and sustainable growth, following an expansion spree that took Oyo to dozens of new markets including China and the United States”, an email from Chief Executive Ritesh Agarwal to Oyo employees on Monday showed.“Some roles at Oyo will become redundant as we further drive tech-enabled synergy, enhanced efficiency and remove duplication of effort across businesses or geographies. As a result, we are asking some of our impacted colleagues to move to a new career outside of Oyo.”According to local media the actual numbers could be anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 employees.

The move comes as Oyo’s biggest investor SoftBank faces setbacks in its marquee investments, such as office-sharing startup WeWork, which has been bailed out after a failed public listing.Uber – another investment by Softbank – is also seeing a drop in its valuations.

Oyo, founded by Ritesh Agarwal,is also encountering a growing backlash from many of its hotel partners, while internal projections signal that it may not make a profit in its two biggest markets until 2022.

The company said that further its focus would be on “profitable locations and avoiding growth that dilutes its margins”. Also, it would work towards “further reducing its operating costs.”