Milkbasket, a subscription commerce firm, is facing significant restructuring following the departure of its top three executives. Reports indicate that the company is planning to downsize its workforce dramatically, with around 600 employees expected to be laid off. The layoff will encompass the entire offline marketing, sales, and head office teams, according to sources familiar with the matter, as reported by Entrackr.
Reliance Retail, which acquired a significant stake in Milkbasket in October 2021, is reportedly exploring ways to accommodate some of Milkbasket’s teams across its group companies. However, a substantial number of staff members are likely to be impacted by the restructuring.
Amid this development, there are speculations that Milkbasket’s shutdown might be followed by the launch of a new platform called ‘Jio Smart Daily’ by Reliance. Such a move could potentially lead to the gradual phasing out of the Milkbasket brand altogether.
The restructuring process is also expected to involve some employees being asked to resign and explore opportunities outside the company within the next few weeks. The fate of the remaining team members at Milkbasket is likely to involve integration with ‘Jio Smart,’ with the operations team possibly merging with Reliance Stores and Bazaar.
Over the past few months, Milkbasket has witnessed significant changes in its top and mid-level management, with co-founder Yatish Talvadia, Chief Operating Officer Abhinav Imandi, and Chief Financial Officer Gaurav Srivastava leaving the company after its integration with JioMart.
Reliance’s acquisition of a 96.49% stake in Milkbasket was disclosed in October 2021, and the deal was estimated to be worth around $40-45 million, according to Entrackr’s sources. Prior to the acquisition, Milkbasket had secured approximately $33 million in funding from investors like Mayfield, Unilever, Beenext, and Blume Ventures, among others.
Update on Auguest 2 2023: After the initial report was published, a Reliance spokesperson reached out to PUNE.NEWS and denied the rebranding and layoffs at Milkbasket.
The spokesperson stated that Milkbasket as a brand, continues to grow and serve its customers. Milkbasket is live in 24 cities and operations are being further expanded in existing cities as well as expanding into new cities. In the long term, we aim to cover all Tier 1 cities with our daily subscription service.
Further, the mention of layoffs is completely incorrect. The business is being integrated with JioMart which is our e-commerce platform. As part of the integration, there may be some realignment/reallocation of roles across functions within the group, but we are not laying off any employee.
