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Scott Shuey · · 3 min readCake Group slashes more jobs despite end of founders’ feud
Cake Group, the parent firm of Singapore-based crypto platform Bake.io, is preparing for another round of layoffs and a company-wide structuring, according to sources who spoke to Tech in Asia.
While CEO Julian Hosp did not respond to Tech in Asia’s emails asking for confirmation, he acknowledged the job cuts in a YouTube video released today, saying that the decision was announced at a company town hall meeting on August 16.
Cake Group co-founder Julian Hosp / Photo credit: Tech in Asia
“Look, it is what it is, and we are here to make the best out of the situation,” Hosp said. “While we’ve really done well, we do need to reduce our cost a little bit. There’s no way around this.”
Hosp also acknowledged that the latest layoffs are similar to Cake Group’s decision in November 2023 to trim its headcount by 30%. However, he didn’t say how many staff would be affected this time.
See also: Singapore Court dismisses bid by former CTO to liquidate Cake Group
He added that the move would make the company “very, very sustainable” and that Cake Group was “getting very close to a breakeven moment.”
His video is part of an ongoing 90-day challenge to return the company to profitability after months of conflicts between its co-founders, Hosp and U-Zyn Chua.
Following disagreements over the November 2023 job cuts, Chua – also the company’s former CTO – filed a winding-up application with the Singapore Supreme Court a month later in December.
The application was eventually dismissed by the court in April 2024. Shortly after, Hosp purchased all of Chua’s shares in the company, but the CEO claims that the damage had been done.
See also: Is Cake cooked? Founder clashes, liquidation loom over crypto firm
“The winding-up application that got dismissed was super, super damaging to the reputation, to our revenue, to the customer base,” Hosp said in a YouTube video released on August 15.
Tech in Asia contacted Chua to comment on this story but he declined.
According to Cake Group’s 2021 unaudited financial statement, its revenue reached US$631 million while its net income hit US$134.3 million – an increase of over 400x from the previous year.
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Employees were told to expect the layoffs as the CEO struggles to steer the crypto company back to profitability.
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