BookMyShow has laid off 200 employees as the company’s online ticket booking service suffered a severe blow due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

BookMyShow, a popular online platform for booking film tickets and entertainment events, has laid off 200 employees, making the second major round of job cuts at the company since it let go of 270 people during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The recent round of layoff is a result of the second Covid-19 wave, which has severely impacted BookMyShow’s business.The company’s co-founder and chief executive Ashish Hemrajani said on Thursday that 200 of the “most incredibly talented and performance-driven individuals” were laid off. He also urged people across industries to give him leads on vacancies for them.

“Covid-19 has taught me many lessons and I learnt another one today. As we let go of 200 of the most incredibility talented and performance-driven individuals, each and every one has messaged, thanking me for the opportunity, the love for BookMyShow and asking me if they could help,” he said.

“These 200 folks were handpicked and curated over years and had surrounded themselves with the highest values of culture, performance and empathy. As the day passed, I had two thoughts, one of managing optics or two – just doing the right thing,” he said.

“And for me, finding each of them a new home, where a new journey can begin, was the easy choice. So if you have leads, please DM me & we will do the needful. They will contribute incredibly to the growth of your wonderful firms. I’m sure we will all come out stronger,” he added.

It may be noted that BookMyShow makes 65 per cent of its revenues from movie ticketing and online ticket booking. However, the pandemic severely impacted its operations as cinema halls mostly remained shut. In view of the situation, BookMyShow has started pay-per-view movie streaming, but it is still at an early stage.