Also in this letter:
■ Amazon waives 10% of seller fee
■ Infographic Insight: Asia leads mobile games
■ Succession and its links with Telegram
I was brought in to transform, take tough decisions: Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte
CEO Thierry Delaporte has adopted an aggressive acquisition strategy that has seen Wipro acquire a dozen companies, shelling out over $2.3 billion in the last three years. In an exclusive interview with ET, he said he had been appointed with the mandate to “transform and take tough decisions”.
Some key takeaways:
Strategy for the next two years: “By the end of the term, the company (will be) stronger, not only delivering good numbers in terms of growth and profitability, but (it will) also (be a) company that is playing a different role in front of clients. My obsession is with the way we are serving our clients. Our primary mission is to deliver excellent services for our clients.”
Also read | Wipro chairman Rishad Premji takes 50% pay cut, Delaporte 5%
Board’s buy-in? “It’s difficult for me to speak for the Board. But I can tell you one thing, I could not have a better Board. Because (it) is supporting us. They are very aware of what we are doing. Every quarter they meet a lot of our leaders and they engage. They are contributing to our progression.”
Wipro’s performance: “The performance of the company has been solid in terms of growth. In terms of profitability, we’ve had a dip four quarters ago but I think the performance on our margins is solid, keeping in mind the acquisitions we’ve made. Some people may have decided not to do the acquisition for short-term margins but that would have been a mistake.”
Byju’s arm Aakash to go public next year
Beleaguered edtech startup Byju’s plans to launch the initial public offering (IPO) of its test-prep subsidiary Aakash Education Services in mid-2024. In a statement on Monday, the company said its board had cleared the IPO proposal. This comes at a time when the edtech startup is struggling to repay its $1.2 billion loan.
Driving the news: The company said the appointment of the merchant bankers for the IPO will be announced soon. “The upcoming IPO will provide a significant capital infusion to bolster Aakash’s infrastructure, broaden its reach, and extend high-quality test-prep education to a larger number of students across the nation,” it said.
IPO prep: ET had reported on May 13 that Byju’s has closed a Rs 2,000-crore round from Davidson Kempner Capital in a structured credit transaction against the cash flows of Aakash Educational Services, linked to the test-prep arm’s public listing.
Loan woes: The announcement on the IPO came on the day the Tiger Global- and Sequoia Capital-backed edtech company reportedly faces a deadline to repay quarterly interest of $40 million on a $1.2 billion loan it raised in November 2021.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that Byju’s lenders pulled out of discussions to restructure the deal.
Infographic Insight: Asia strongest market for mobile games
Asia stands out as the largest market for mobile games, suggests a report titled Mobile Games Index from Statista and Adjoe, an advertising and monetisation platform.
The report notes that the mobile games market in Asia generated $121.7 billion in revenue in 2022, and is estimated to grow to $185.9 billion by 2027.
North America and Europe come second and third generating revenue of $75 billion and $22.6 billion, respectively, in 2022. Africa finds itself at the bottom of the list.
Tweet of the day
Panel seeks $1 trillion for startups from G20 by 2030
The StartUp20 engagement group meeting, which culminated in Goa on Sunday, called for G20 nations to invest $1 trillion in startup ecosystems by 2030, a top official told ET.
Tell me more: The two-day meeting ended with the delegations agreeing on the drafted policy communique, said Chintan Vaishnav, chair of the StartUp20 Engagement Group.
“The communique would be adopted during the Gurugram meeting scheduled next month. We have put out a call for action for G20 countries to allocate $1 trillion for startup ecosystems by the year 2030,” he said.
Action points: The delegation agreed on key action points, namely creating and adopting a definition framework for startups, and a network institution to support startups and startup ecosystems across G20 nations; increasing and diversifying access to capital; easing market access; emphasising the inclusion of underrepresented communities; and creating the ability to scale startups of global interest.
Why line for ‘Succession’ ended at Telegram
Last week, millions of viewers came to terms with the end of HBO’s widely acclaimed series, Succession. Many from India at the same time also bid goodbye to the messenger app Telegram. But how are the two related?
Piracy, the glue: Earlier this year, Disney+ Hotstar did not renew its deal with HBO. So, when the final season of Succession began streaming, there was no legitimate streaming platform for Indians. Enter Telegram.
Many fans resorted to installing Telegram for the first time to access pirated episodes of the series through the app’s user-led channels.
From the horse’s mouth: “I did not do a single textual interaction on the app. Every Monday morning, I would ask a friend for the new episode on WhatsApp and they would send a link on Telegram,” said a Mumbai-based content writer. “Once the season was over, I uninstalled the app because WhatsApp is enough for all my instant messaging needs.”
Yes, but: While SimilarWeb data accessed by ET showed that Telegram registered 21.1 million user visits in April, its highest since October 2022, digital media professionals emphasised the spike cannot be directly attributed to Succession, but that demand for the show could have been one of the many contributing factors.
Users in India can now watch HBO shows, including Succession, on JioCinema.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Gaurab Dasgupta in New Delhi. Graphics and illustrations by Rahul Awasthi
