Technology shifts are putting pressure on companies to shuffle their strategies and lay off thousands of employees.
E-commerce company AskMe is the latest in the list, which decided to shut down its operations, leaving around 4,000 employees jobless.
According to reports, AskMe is facing severe cash crunch, which led it to take this hard decision. The company’s website is still alive, but it’s not accepting any orders.
It is believed that the unexpected withdrawal of Astro Holdings, the company’s principal investor, led to the AskMe closure.
Astro owns majority stake in AskMe Group, which also runs e-commerce site AskMeBazaar, grocery marketplace AskMeGrocery.
Astro Holdings promoter, Anand Krishnan, a Malaysian billionaire, has invested millions in AskMe. The investment firm is facing a CBI probe related to investments in Aircel.
In connection with that, it is understood that Astro will pull back from Indian markets.
Online firms such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Ola have also cut headcounts in the past few months. Networking giant Cisco, recently, announced that it will lay off 5,500 employees as it requires new skill sets to meet changing business requirement.
