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Layoffs Hit Udemy: 20% Out as Some Jobs Move Overseas

Udemy lays off 280 staff, representing 20% of its workforce, with plans to relocate half of the affected positions to lower-cost locations.

Last month, I reported that Udemy hinted at layoffs in their earnings report without explicitly using the term. Now, the company has released more concrete details about its restructuring plan.

Key Points:

  • Approximately 280 employees (20% of the global workforce) will be affected.
  • Udemy plans to rehire about half of these positions in lower-cost locations.
  • The restructuring is expected to cost between $16 million and $19 million.
  • The plan is set to be completed by March 31, 2025.

As of December 31, 2023, Udemy had 1,443 full-time employees. The last known Udemy layoffs occurred in February 2023, where I estimated that 200 staff were laid off.

This move follows a significant market cap decline of around 40% in 2024. Udemy’s 2024 Q2 revenue of $194.4 million fell below its first-quarter revenue, marking the first time the company has experienced a quarter-over-quarter revenue drop. The primary culprit was Udemy’s Consumer revenues, which decreased from $79.2 million in 2024 Q1 to $73.8 million.

This is despite the boost Udemy received last year when it announced plans to reduce the instructor share from 25% to 15% by 2026, with the first adjustment to 20% effective as of January 1, 2024.

At that announcement, the stock price has jumped by more than 50%, bringing the market cap to $2.1 billion. At the time of publishing, Udemy’s market cap was $1.20 billion.

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Dhawal Shah

Dhawal is the CEO of Class Central, the most popular search engine and review site for online courses and MOOCs. He has completed over a dozen MOOCs and has written over 200 articles about the MOOC space, including contributions to TechCrunch, EdSurge, Quartz, and VentureBeat.

Comments 1

  1. exUdemate

    This entire layoff has been a mess. They have ruined the culture internally and have killed any sense of loyalty that was there for the remaining employees.

    First-hand I know that those who are not affected, are actively looking to get out from Udemy and the unstable leadership that is in place.

    Reply

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