Snapdeal finally dropped the bombshell today that was being spoken of in hushed whispers in the Indian startup world for a while – the company’s now admitted it’s in big trouble, and has now turned to desperate measures in a bid to stay alive. Being unable to raise a next round of funding, Snapdeal today announced that it was laying off over 600 employees, and founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal were forgoing their Rs. 46 crore salaries.
Twitter, though, has been less than sympathetic to Snapdeal’s plight, given how several analysts and observers had been calling this meltdown for years. There was much criticism of the founders.
https://twitter.com/StartupKumar/status/831925802610483200
https://twitter.com/sumanthr/status/834321948960251904
https://twitter.com/sumanthr/status/834406308006596609
There were also barbs reserved for Snapdeal’s hiring policies – this isn’t the first time that Snapdeal has fired employees en masse. Last year, Snapdeal had fired 600 of its customer service employees, who’d then protested at their offices with chants against the founders.
Sensing an opportunity, people have already started offering jobs to laid off workers.
And while it’s a sombre occasion with jobs being lost and careers at stake, the jokes started coming soon enough.
There were also references to Snapdeal’s Rs. 200 crore marketing campaign, which it had launched late last year.
Ouch.