Also in this letter:
■ Google vows to cooperate with CCI after Android ruling
India needs law to force big tech to negotiate media deals: Australian MP
■ Amazon and Samara Capital to Pour Rs 300 Million into More Retail
Tech layoffs intensify as Swiggy and Google announce job cuts
Swiggy will lay off 380 employees, CEO Sriharsha Majety told employees in an internal memo Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is cutting 12,000 jobs, CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a staff memo days after Microsoft announced it would lay off 10,000 employees. I’m here.
Swiggy: “As part of our restructuring, we have made the very difficult decision to downsize our team.
On Dec. 9, Swiggy reported that it planned to lay off at least 250 employees.
reason: Majeti said the company’s food delivery business is growing more slowly than expected. He also said the company had overhired over the past two years due to a “case of poor judgment” on his part.
Prosus-backed Swiggy has been trying to cut cash burn in its major businesses like food delivery and Instamart amid a distinct slowdown in late-stage funding for startups.
Meat delivery business closure: The company has also decided to shut down its meat delivery business, one of many verticals Swiggy has launched alongside food and grocery delivery. Majety said Swiggy will continue to deliver meat on Instamart, but decided to close its dedicated vertical after failing to achieve product/market fit.
Read also | Full email from Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety regarding job cuts
Google: In the memo, Pichai said the job cuts would affect work globally and across the company, adding that he “takes full responsibility for the decisions that have brought us here.”
“We have already sent a separate email to affected US employees. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices,” he wrote. increase.
The announcement comes on the heels of Reuters reporting that Google is deferring some of its employees’ annual bonuses as it transitions to a new performance management system.
After Android ruling, Google vows to cooperate with CCI
Google said on Friday it will cooperate with India’s competition authorities after the Supreme Court upheld a tough antitrust directive forcing the company to change how it sells Android in India.
Google statement: “We remain committed to our users and partners and will continue to work with CCI,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters. He added that he was “considering the details of yesterday’s decision, which was limited to interim relief and did not decide on the merits of the appeal.”
Catch up soon: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ruled on October 20 that Google had exploited its dominant position in Android, including those related to pre-installing apps and securing search exclusivity. ordered the removal of restrictions on device manufacturers. Also, Google fined him Rs 1,337 crore.
The company said the CCI’s order would require it to change its arrangements with more than 1,100 device makers and thousands of app developers if the directive were to go into effect.
The court also said the National Corporate Law Court of Appeals, where Google initially challenged the CCI’s order, can continue to hear the company’s appeal and has until March 31 to issue a ruling.
Important reasons: Google is concerned about India’s decision, which it sees as more drastic than those imposed in the 2018 European Commission’s landmark Android ruling. Around 97% of his 600 million smartphones in India and 75% of his 550 million smartphones in Europe run on Android, according to Counterpoint Research estimates.
India needs law to force big tech to negotiate media deals: Australian MP
Australia MP and former communications minister Paul Fletcher said Friday that India and other countries should pass legislation to enable mechanisms for bringing together big tech companies and news, media and content publishers to make commerce. said. .
precedent: The Australian government was one of the first large governments to pass legislation requiring big tech companies such as Meta and Google to do fair deals with news, media and publishers over content shared on their platforms. am.
According to Fletcher, the code included “prudent incentives” to encourage big tech companies such as Meta and Google to strike commercial deals with news, media and publishers. Both of these companies have signed other deals with publishers around the world after Australian legislation was enacted, he added.
Quote: “The mechanism we came up with was designed to facilitate commercial deals, put Facebook (now Meta) and Google on the table, and negotiate commercially with news media companies. I just wanted to intervene,” Fletcher told ET.
Amazon and Samara Capital Pour Rs 300 Million into More Retail
Amazon and Samara Capital, which co-owns food and groceries retail chain More Retail, have injected Rs 300 crore into the company so far this financial year, according to the latest regulatory filings. And the latest injection was made earlier this month.
More Retail’s holding company is Witzig Advisory Services, 49% owned by Amazon and 51% owned by Samara Alternate Investment Fund.
Finance: In fiscal year 2021-22, More Retail’s net loss quadrupled to Rs 420 million from Rs 7.8 billion in the previous year, while revenue increased slightly by 2% year-on-year to Rs 486.7 billion. rice field. The accumulated loss as at 31 March 2022 was Rs.103.93 billion.
More Retail told ET in September 2022 that it operates 881 supermarkets and 42 hypermarkets and plans to open about 100 new stores, including 10 hypermarkets, this year. . Last fiscal year, it opened 129 supermarkets and 11 hypermarkets.
Upcoming IPO: Details Retail executives recently told ET they are planning an initial public offering within the next 12 to 18 months.
ETtech Trading Digest
In the midst of a tough fundraising winter, India’s startup ecosystem saw increased investment this week, raising a total of $565 million across 19 rounds, data provided by market intelligence platform Tracxn shows. increase.
Walmart-owned payments platform PhonePe, which raised $350 million in funding from General Atlantic this week, accounted for most of this.
Funding received by Indian startups this week jumped more than 10 times from last week, according to data. However, compared to the same week last year, funding fell by 7.68% for him.
Below is a list of startups that raised funding this week.
Fire-Boltt will start exporting from India in February, CEO says
Smart wearables and accessories maker Fire-Boltt will start exporting from India instead of China from February. CEO Arnav Kishore told his ET that his smartwatch brand has expanded to Vietnam and Singapore after entering the UAE last year.
This will be followed by expansion to 13 countries, including parts of Europe and the US, in the first quarter of 2023.
“We will completely stop remittances from China. Indian manufacturing will play a big role not only in terms of Indian shipments but also in terms of exports to other countries,” he added.
“Appropriate time”: Kishore said now is the right time to export from India as geopolitical tensions are making it harder for Chinese brands to enter markets like the US. rice field. He added that tariff structures in other regions are more favorable to Indian imports.
Yes, but: He added that 50% of components such as displays, batteries and PCBs are sourced from China, so reliance on China for wearable manufacturing will not disappear anytime soon.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 Newsletter was curated by Zaheer Merchant from Mumbai and Erick Massey from Delhi. Graphics and illustrations by Rahul Awasthi.