Snapdeal founders admit to 'wrong moves', take 100% salary cut

Snapdeal has started laying off employees and co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, looking at the anxiousness of the staff, sent out a mail admitting they took several wrong decisions over the past two-three years amid a funding frenzy and that it was time to course-correct.

Bahl also said that the co-founders will take a 100% salary cut. The co-founders had another email around 10 days ago, asking the employees to be ready for "tough decision".

Reportedly, the company has laid off 250-300 people across the country in the first phase, a bulk of them at its headquarters in Gurgaon.

According to people with knowledge, the final number of layoffs could run up to 1,000 or more. A Snapdeal spokesperson claimed the retrenchment number would be much lower - around 600, over the next few months.

"We started growing the business before the right economic model and market fit was figured out. A large amount of capital with ambition can be a potent mix that drives a company to defocus from its core. We feel that happened to us. We started doing too many things, and all of us starting with myself and Rohit, are to blame for it," Bahl and Bansal wrote in their email.

They also said from here on, Snapdeal would focus only on its core strengths and shut all non-core businesses in a bid to drastically cut cost.

Amid tight security arrangements, Snapdeal employees at headquarters were asked to leave immediately, some of them told TOI. There are also unconfirmed reports of the company moving to a smaller office in Gurgaon.