The surprising bad news at Dailyhunt and Josh

The announcement of layoffs and pay cuts by their well-funded parent is a sign that the new short-video business isn’t pulling its weight.

Earlier this week, VerSe Innovation, which runs the news aggregation site Dailyhunt and short-form video app Josh, laid off 150 employees, accounting for about 5% of its workforce. At the same time, the company also implemented a pay cut of 11% for all employees with annual salaries of more than Rs 10 lakh. 

Despite the global macroeconomic concerns, this layoff announcement has surprised many within the company. Given that VerSe Innovation had raised $805 million in April 2022 at a valuation of $5 billion, there was an unofficial assurance that the company wouldn’t have to fire anyone. “It’s quite a …

Author

Harveen Ahluwalia

Harveen is a co-founder at The Morning Context, and leads our Internet coverage. She has previously worked as a media, consumer and tech reporter at The Ken and Mint. At The Morning Context, she writes on startups, venture capital, consumer and media businesses across India and the Middle East—from e-commerce to healthtech to streaming.

Editor, Internet

harveen@mailtmc.com

Dubai