⚡️Layoffs at Ola and ShareChat, Viacom18 pays ₹951 crore for the women’s IPL

🤩 The Good

Viacom18 picks up media rights for the women’s Indian Premier League for ₹951 crore. The Reliance Industries-owned company acquired media rights from 2023-2027, with a per-match value of ₹7.09 crore. The men’s IPL fetched ₹48,390.5 crore in June 2022 and had a per-match value of ₹58 crore.

In a key strategy change, Byju’s will no longer have salespersons visiting students’ homes. The edtech giant announced that it is ending the controversial practice of pitching to parents at students’ homes. The sales team will now work from the office and reach out electronically to parents whose children have expressed a strong interest in using the platform. The company has created additional checks to validate customers' intent and consent to purchase a subscription, and will ensure that the child's household income is at least ₹25,000.

NCLT approves the transfer of ownership of Jet Airways to the winning bidder, the Jalan-Kalrock consortium. The consortium was named the successful bidder in 2022 but did not gain control of the airline since Jet Airways' lenders claimed that it had failed to meet certain conditions in the NCLT-approved resolution plan. The NCLT has now ruled in the consortium's favour and granted them six months to pay creditors and employees. A proposed cash infusion of Rs 1,375 crore to financial creditors and other stakeholders is in process.

👿 The Bad

Ola lays off ~200 employees from its tech and product teams in a “restructuring” exercise. Employees from the Ola Cabs, Ola Electric, and Ola Financial Services verticals have been laid off, according to a source. An executive claimed that this was a “repurposement exercise”, as the company shifts it focus from building a super-app to just ride-hailing and EVs.

India’s richest 1% control more than 40% of the country’s total wealth. The richest 1% in India own more than 40% of the country's total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3% of wealth, Oxfam International reported. The report titled "Survival of the Richest: The India story” also noted that India’s richest person, Gautam Adani, saw his wealth soar by 46% in 2022. On gender inequality, the report said that female workers earned only 63 paise for every 1 rupee a male worker earned.

Sharechat, Dunzo, and other internet companies initiate layoffs as the startup winter continues. Large consumer internet firms are laying off significant numbers of employees to reduce spending. ShareChat's parent Mohalla Tech laid off ~600 of its ~2,100 employees, reducing its workforce by 20%+. Reliance-backed Dunzo laid off ~3% of its employees to cut costs, while cloud kitchen firm Rebel Foods, which houses brands like Behrouz Biryani and Oven Story, fired 2% of its staff.

🤔 Wait-and-Watch

RBI Governor wants a blanket ban on cryptocurrency in India and calls it “nothing but gambling”. While admitting that blockchain has several applications, the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das highlighted that dangers like terror funding, challenges in defining crypto, and price volatility make it a gamble and undermine the RBI’s authority. The Governor had expressed disapproval towards private cryptocurrencies and their potential to create a financial crisis on a previous occasion, too.

🌎 International

Apple CEO Tim Cook takes a 40% voluntary pay cut for 2023. The unusual move came “in response to shareholder feedback,” according to Apple’s annual proxy statement. This reduces Cook’s compensation from $84M in 2022 to $49M.

Vodafone is planning to cut several hundred jobs, most in its London headquarters. This will be the company’s biggest round of job cuts in five years. Vodafone employs ~1,04,000 people and has faced a difficult year due to poorly performing global units.

Big Tech is bracing for a difficult 2023 due to economic factors, tough regulations, and more. With a recession looming and Europe starting to implement regulations on anticompetitive behavior (Digital Markets Act) and online content (Digital Services Act), Meta, Google, Amazon, and other tech companies are expecting a tough year. Competition from TikTok, Netflix, and others in the digital ads space is also posing a challenge.

If you'd like to tip or suggest a story, you can reach out at [email protected]. 

Catch you tomorrow! 🌞