Times Internet invests in MyGlamm, sells GradeUp to BYJU’S & DineOut to Swiggy
The company’s ad revenue jumps 25 percent in FY22, Print media business grew 60 percent, as per regulatory filings
Times Internet Limited (TIL), a subsidiary of Bennett Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL), sold its shares in Vidooly Media Tech and proceedings generated from the sale has been invested into MyGlamm group, the company said in its regulatory filing.
Vidooly is an online video intelligence software platform founded by Nishant Radia, Subrat Kar and Ajay Mishra. Created in 2014, the company was backed by Times Internet, Alibaba and a few more investors. In January, 2022, Vidooly was acquired by the MyGlamm group.
The company partially divested its shares in Delhivery, Spayee Labs, GetMyUni Education Services and GirnarSoft Education Services(College Dekho) as well, as per the regulatory filings sourced from Tofler.
Times Internet is India’s largest digital products company engaged in the business of providing online and offline services including selling of print advertorials/advertisement and operates digital properties like timesofindia.com, economictimes.com, navbharattimes.com and various others like Times Card, Times Jobs, MensXP, IDiva, Speaking Tree, Cricbuzz.com, Times Prime, ET Money etc.
Dineout sold to Swiggy
The company mentions the transfer of Dineout business of the Company to Bundl Technologies Pvt Ltd (“Swiggy”) in exchange for equity shares of Swiggy, by way of slump exchange on a going concern basis.
Gradeup sold to BYJU’s
The company further informs that Gradeup (a subsidiary of the Company) will be merged with Byju’s through NCLT approval route and post merger completion, Byju’s will issue 11,221 Series F CCCPS worth Rs. 18.5 crore of Byju’s to the Company.
BYJU’s had acquired GradeUp in 2021 and renamed it Exam Prep. GradeUp offered test prep courses across sectors, with banking and SSC prep being the most popular segments. The startup’s net revenue stood close to Rs 60 Cr in FY20.
Revenue up
TIL has reported a whopping 41% jump in revenue from operations at Rs 1,600 crore as against Rs 1,200 crore in FY21.
TIL’s online advertising income surged 25% to Rs 830 crore in FY22, according to standalone financial data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler. It was Rs 621 crore and Rs 492 crore in the FY21 and FY20 respectively.
Its revenue from the print media business saw a whopping 60% growth-from Rs 71 crore in FY21 to Rs 114 crore. TIL has reported a profit of Rs 412 cr in the financial year 2022 compared to Rs 23 crore a year earlier.
Many businesses profitable: Directors
The company said its matured businesses have become profitable or are near profitability. Many of these new businesses are on an exponential growth path and would require investment for continued growth while competing against deep pocket corporate/well-funded startups.
In its regulatory filing, the company said that its Board of Directors are hopeful that these steps will result in revenue growth and better profitability in the coming years. “However, for the next two years we expect to continue investing in our transaction/ subscription business which will result in profitability to remain muted despite very high growth in revenues,” the directors said in the report.
The company cites investment into various subscription products like TOI+, ETPrime, TimesPrime for continued subscriber growth, ET Money, gaming (Qureka, MX, etc.) as “steps taken for revenue growth and profitability improvement”.
