Zilingo Philippines delays salaries amid company’s uncertain future

With uncertainty looming over Zilingo’s future, the fashion ecommerce firm’s Philippines unit announced yesterday that salaries for June will be “further delayed.”

In an email that was reviewed by Tech in Asia, the HR team of Zilingo Philippines said that it plans to sell office assets and production equipment as an alternative means to pay salaries should the delay continue. There are already “interested buyers looking to purchase these assets at the earliest,” the team added.

Tech in Asia has reached out to Zilingo for comment.

Zilingo’s former headquarters in Singapore / Photo credit: Zilingo

Staff at the beleaguered company have not been paid salaries for nearly two months now, a Philippines-based employee told Tech in Asia on condition of anonymity. The source claimed that resignations are taking place across multiple markets including Indonesia and Thailand. However, the total number of staff who have quit remained undisclosed.

“We have been advised to start looking for other opportunities outside Zilingo. It feels like they just want us to leave so the company has no liability anymore,” the anonymous employee said.

The mood among the staff is that the company will close down despite the management buyout offer proposed by Zilingo founders Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor, the source said.

A board meeting to decide on the management buyout or liquidation of the company shares has been adjourned.

Sequoia-backed Zilingo got embroiled in controversy after it reportedly started gauging investors to raise up to US$200 million, which triggered a probe into business transactions across its platform. Later, then-CEO Bose was sacked amid allegations of serious financial irregularities.

See also: Zilingo grew big, lost big from 2018 to 2019

This story is developing. Check back for updates.