Mobile Premier League (MPL) is laying off 10 per cent of its workforce
India Today
MPL is laying off 100 employees, which is around 10 per cent of its workforce. It is also exiting Indonesian market amid a broader slowdown in the Indian startup ecosystem.
The Mobile Premier League (MPL) is laying off 100 employees, which is around 10 per cent of its workforce. Moneycontrol reported that the esports and skill gaming app MPL is also exiting the Indonesian market amid a broader slowdown in the Indian startup ecosystem.
MPL co-founders Sai Srinivas and Shubh Malhotra reportedly noted in an email to employees that "the last few months have been insane. The philosophy of growth at all costs is now reversed. The market is now rewarding profitable growth over growth at all costs." "It's imperative that we as a company respond to this change and respond fast. We have always said that the market is like a flowing river - you cannot fight it, you have to row downstream," the email further added.
The company, however, said that employees who are being fired will receive complete severance along with other benefits. Additionally, ESOP holders will get an opportunity to hold onto their options for an additional 10 years, the email stated.
MPL gained wide popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as it forced people to stay indoors and spend the majority of their time on playing mobile games. This resulted in a massive surge in mobile game downloads and user engagement.
MPL founders said in the email that the company is exiting Indonesia since the "return profile has been several multiples lower" than what they are seeing in India or other countries it operates in. "It is time to make the difficult decision to redeploy our resources in other parts of our business to ensure our long-term health and success as company," the company noted in the email to employees.
The founders highlighted that the plan is to "use the ample cash reserves" they have to grow their core business while achieving EBITDA neutrality. MPL also plans to continue investing in high conviction bets such as its US operations and the recently launched gaming studio Mayhem Studios. The company said it will wind up businesses that are not working well.
"The US business has turned contribution margin positive in less than nine months of launch, even faster than India ... The team is making progress on getting product right and increasing their retention,” MPL founders said.
