OYO’s FY19 loss swells to $335 million

OYO Hotels & Homes posted a net loss of $335 million in FY19, more than a sixfold jump from a year ago as the company expanded to China and other countries.

However, the Softbank-backed company’s revenue jumped almost five times to $951 million, led by India and China. The company said nearly 36.5% of its revenues for the year were from outside India. “A year ago, this was a small part of our overall business. India contributed nearly 63.5% or $604 million of its revenues,” it said in a blog posted on its website. The company had posted a loss of $52 million, last year.

OYO said its net loss in India reduced to 14% from 24% of its revenue, but globally it increased to 35% from 25%. Whereas gross margin in India increased to 14.7% in FY19, up from 10.6% in FY18, it said.

The company, which let go of about 12% of its workforce late last year, said some roles at OYO had become redundant as it drove “tech-enabled synergy, enhanced efficiency and removed duplication of effort across businesses or geographies”.

“This was a deeply painful decision for us, given its impact on the affected employees, and we deeply regret it. We have tried to make their transition less painful by adopting principles of fairness, and are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that our outgoing colleagues receive as much assistance and support as possible through this transition,” the company said.

Founded in 2013 by Ritesh Agarwal, the company has recently come under fire for “questionable practices” and complaints from partners over delay in payments. In its earnings statement—which comes almost a year after the end of FY19—the company mentions ‘partner issues’ and unsatisfied customers.

The company said it has launched OPEN, or OYO Partner Engagement Network, to improve partner alignment. The initiative will be launched in other countries as well.

The six-year-old startup operates in markets including the U.S., Europe, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Japan, and others apart from India and China.