Simplilearn has announced its first ever ESOP buyback which is worth Rs. 48.74 crore (US$6.4 million). This is the first time ESOPs have been bought back by the company and it was undertaken as part of a recent investment by Blackstone earlier this year. 

The company had offered active employees the opportunity to liquidate up to 25% of their vested ESOPs as part of this buyback, with 65% of the active employees with ESOPs liquidating their options as part of this buyback process. Following this, Simplilearn rewarded all these employees with additional new ESOPs for their continued contribution to its growth. 

“Having launched our ESOPs plan in 2012, this was an ideal time to offer liquidity on the same. For many of our employees, this was their first opportunity in their professional lives to own or liquidate ESOPs. We are happy to be able to remunerate our employees for their contribution with the buyback. This also provides a great chance to create wealth, given that we also issued new, additional ESOPs for the future,” said Krishna Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Simplilearn.

The company derives over 60% of its business at present from international markets. With employee wealth creation as a key part of the people strategy, Simplilearn is hiring leaders across all levels in the Indian and U.S. markets as part of its aggressive growth plan and agenda to strengthen its global team. This hiring includes the recent addition of Deborah Quazzo to the company’s board of directors and the appointment of Saurabh Arya as the Vice President- Simplilearn Enterprise, with many others joining in the next few months.