Indian ride-hailing giant Ola cuts 180 jobs in profitability push

Ola has let go its chief executive officer Hemant Bakshi, merely four months after making the appointment, and is cutting about 180 jobs, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The move from the Indian ride-hailing startup is aimed at “improving profitability,” its founder Bhavish Aggarwal told employees in an email Monday seen by TechCrunch.

The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which counts SoftBank and Tiger Global among its backers, is undergoing a “restructuring exercise” to gear up for its “next phase of growth,” Aggarwal, pictured above, wrote in the email.

The move follows Ola shutting down its operations in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand earlier this month. Bakshi, a former HUL executive, was appointed as Ola chief executive in January this year.

You can read the Aggarwal’s email in its entirety below.