BookMyShow lays off 200 employees as COVID-19 pandemic disrupts business

Online entertainment and events company BookMyShow laid off 200 employees as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted cinemas and theatrical performances. BookMyShow essentially made revenues by selling tickets online, however, amid the pandemic movie theatres have been practically shut for the past year. This is the second major layoff at the company in the last one year. BookMyShow had to let go of 270 people as the first COVID-19 wave hit the country. 

In a series of tweets, Ashish Hemrajani, founder and chief executive officer of BookMyShow said, “These 200 folks were handpicked & curated over years and had surrounded themselves with the highest values of culture, performance and empathy. As the day passed, I had two thoughts, one of managing optics or two - just doing the right thing”. 

Further, Hemrajani sought leads for new opportunities for the impacted employees so that they can find new jobs. BookMyShow has also reached out to multiple companies requesting for outplacement of these employees. “They will contribute incredibly to the growth of your wonderful firms. I’m sure we will all come out stronger,” he added.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic 

Following the pandemic induced lockdown, recreational activities such as theatre hopping have come to a halt which has heavily impacted the business of the company. BookMy Show also started offering streaming of films to diversify its offering and to cater to its customers last year. However, with stringent lockdowns in place and second wave of COVID-19 hitting the country harder, the contact-intensive service sectors including entertainment, hospitality and tourism have been battered and have seen massive retrenchments since last year.

Meanwhile, on June 10, India reported 94,052 new cases of Coronavirus disease, raising the overall number of cases to 2,91,83,121, said Union Health Ministry. According to numbers updated at 8 a.m., the country witnessed 6,148 deaths in the preceding 24 hours, the highest in a single day, as the Bihar government reconciled its actual death counts on Wednesday after a 20-day audit. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the virus has claimed the lives of 3,59,676 people in the country. India has 11,67,952 active infections as of Thursday, according to data from the health ministry, accounting for about 4.5 percent of all illnesses reported so far.

(Image: Twitter)