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Tag: acquisition

  • ‘Twitter has spoken’, says Musk as 65% back his claims on fake users in poll

    ‘Twitter has spoken’, says Musk as 65% back his claims on fake users in poll

    Mumbai: The Twitter-Elon Musk wrangle does not seem to be resolving itself any time soon, with both sides trading charges and counter charges. A Twitter poll by the Tesla CEO has revealed that nearly 65 per cent of his followers do not believe Twitter’s claims on the percentage of fake/spam accounts on the platform.

    The Tesla CEO conducted the poll on Saturday on whether “less than five per cent of Twitter daily users are fake/spam?” to be answered with a Yes/No. The billionaire triumphantly declared the results of the online poll on Monday: “Twitter has spoken …”, disclosing that 64.9 per cent of over eight lakh users who participated in the poll believe that Twitter’s claims that less than five per cent of its active users are bots is not true.

    Some of the Twitterati went so far as to accuse the networking giant of trying to hide its actual bot count, with Musk emphatically agreeing to the accusation.

    The Tesla CEO is engaged in a fierce legal battle with Twitter after he backed out of his $44 billion acquisition deal, claiming the social media giant did not keep up its part of the deal by disclosing the correct data on spam and bot accounts on the platform. Twitter claims that spam profiles account for only five per cent of its daily active users.

    Earlier, Musk challenged Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a “public debate” over the issue of fake accounts on the platform. In multiple tweets, while replying to a follower’s tweet summarising the highlights of the $44 billion acquisition offer to buy Twitter, Musk asserted that the social media company’s method of estimating spam bots and accounts is flawed and “materially false.”

    The billionaire currently faces a lawsuit after breaching the $44 billion acquisition agreement of the social media company.

    ALSO READ  Twitter sues Elon Musk for breaching $44 bn deal, he reacts with a meme

    ALSO READ | The Twitter-Elon Musk tussle: To be ‘bot’ or not to be

  • Nykaa gets board approval to buy digital lifestyle platform Little Black Book

    Nykaa gets board approval to buy digital lifestyle platform Little Black Book

    Mumbai: Nykaa has confirmed its board’s approval for the acquisition of Iluminar Media’s Little Black Book (LBB), a millennial-focused lifestyle discovery platform. This is in line with Nykaa’s fundamental, content-first strategy for connecting with its devoted customer base.

    LBB is a popular content hub thanks to its sizable, discerning user base, content creation ability, curation mindset, and connections to up-and-coming brands. Nykaa believes that LBB’s emphasis on the fashion, home, and beauty categories will complement Nykaa’s strong points.  

    Nykaa spokesperson Nihir Parikh said, “At Nykaa, we are committed to offering the best to our consumers and making their shopping experience delightful. We are excited about the strong synergies we share with LBB, much like Nykaa, they have sharply focused on driving discovery and spotlighting promising homegrown brands across their channels since day one.”

    “We welcome their like-minded leadership into the Nykaa family and look forward to helping them scale, as together we better serve our audience base,” added Parikh.  

    According to Nykaa, its market leadership in beauty and lifestyle is a result of its core strengths, which include a content-first approach, curated offerings, and a discovery-led shopping experience. LBB’s strengths in these areas will complement Nykaa and Nykaa Fashion’s vision of constantly enriching their customers’ shopping experiences.  

    LBB co-founder and CEO Suchita Salwan said, “Through this partnership with Nykaa, we’re excited to scale to even greater heights. Together, we want to drive value to Nykaa and LBB’s shared goals to build discovery for India’s emerging brands through content, community, and a discovery-first approach.”  

    She further added, “LBB’s robust content creation capabilities and creator network will be leveraged within Nykaa’s platforms to drive consumer engagement and retention, further scaling reach and engagement for our brand partners.”

    Suchita Salwan and Dhruv Mathur co-founded LBB (Little Black Book) in 2015, and it has grown from a Tumblr blog to a popular online marketplace.  LBB has established a brand and an audience among India’s urban millennials, reaching over 70 million users through various channels. Their emphasis on audience engagement through content and discovery has made them a brand beloved by both users and brand partners.

  • Netflix to buy Australian animation studio Animal Logic

    Netflix to buy Australian animation studio Animal Logic

    Mumbai: Netflix on Wednesday announced its plans to acquire Australian animation studio Animal Logic. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close later this year.

    The acquisition will support Netflix’s ambitious animated film slate, building on films such as the Academy Award-nominated “Over The Moon,” the Academy Award-nominated “Klaus” and the recently released “The Sea Beast.”

    Animal Logic has been producing award-winning designs, visual effects and animation for over 30 years. Headquartered in Sydney, Animal Logic set up a second studio in Vancouver, Canada in 2015 and has worked on Hollywood blockbusters including “Happy Feet,” “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,” “The LEGO Movies” and “Peter Rabbit” 1 and 2, alongside a catalogue of amazing visual effects work including “The Matrix,” “Moulin Rouge!,” “300” and “The Great Gatsby.”

    The announcement builds on an already strong partnership between the two companies, with a full slate of films across Animal Logic’s Sydney and Vancouver studios, including “The Magician’s Elephant,” directed by Wendy Rogers, and the recently announced “The Shrinking of the Treehorns,” directed by Ron Howard, for Netflix.

    “Netflix has been investing in animation over the past few years and this furthers our commitment to building a world-class animation studio,” said Netflix vice president of studio operations Amy Reinhard. “Animal Logic is a leading animation studio with innovative technology that will strengthen our existing business and increase our long-term capacity in the animation space, so that we can better entertain our members around the world.”

    Working with Animal Logic will accelerate the buildout of Netflix’s end-to-end animation production capabilities. The Animal Logic and Netflix Animation teams together will create a global creative production team and an animation studio that will produce some of Netflix’s largest animated film titles. Netflix will continue to work with many other studios around the world for animated series and film needs.

    Led by CEO and co-founder Zareh Nalbandian, the Animal Logic teams and leadership will remain operating under the Animal Logic brand and will fulfil production of existing and ongoing commitments and continue to collaborate and work with longstanding studio partners.

    “After 30 years of producing great work with great people, this is the perfect next chapter for Animal Logic,” said Nalbandian. “Our values and aspirations could not be more aligned with Netflix, in working with diverse content makers, producing innovative and engaging stories for audiences around the world. Our collective experience and talent will open new doors for all our teams and will empower a new level of creativity in animation.”

    “The strength of our partnership across a number of projects is testament to our shared creative vision,” said Animal Logic COO Sharon Taylor. “Solidifying our future together felt like a mutually beneficial, natural progression, and I am so excited to continue to build on our success together.”

  • Wondrlab acquires performance marketing agency Neon

    Wondrlab acquires performance marketing agency Neon

    Mumbai: Leading MarTech network Wondrlab has acquired Neon – a leading performance marketing agency. The Neon acquisition follows the WYP acquisition and the Opportune acquisition.

    Neon uses data, creativity, and deep platform understanding to successfully deliver bottom-of-the-funnel campaigns. Since its inception, the agency has helped more than 100 brands grow, by delivering on conversions and leads.  

    Wondrlab advocates a full-funnel approach to helping brands win. This acquisition strengthens Wondrlab’s promise by enabling its clients to straddle brand creation as well as monetization. This is especially necessary for building a first-party digital landscape to survive in a cookie-less future.

    Wondrlab founder & CEO Saurabh Varma said, “Meher and his team share our passion for building incredible solutions that straddle both products and service. As the teams come together, it will help us deliver a seamless full-funnel experience for our clients. Super exciting.”

    Neon founder Meher Patel said, “We are excited to be a part of the Wondrlab family. The ambition to build India’s first Network is exciting, to say the least. The singular focus on delivering on the full funnel seamlessly is exciting. What is even more exciting is the ability of the Group to have real skin in the game. Our journey at Neon gets new wings.”

    “The only way to deliver on the full-funnel promise is to have incredible leadership and deep specialization. The balance between great storytelling and delivering performance has to go hand-in-hand. Beyond that, the chemistry and the human connection are critical. That is what we have focused on through the acquisition phase. Wondrlab wishes a warm welcome to the entire Neon family,” Wondrlab co-founder and managing partner Rakesh Hinduja added.

    Speaking on the acquisition, Neon co-founder Yesha Shetty said, “As a creative leader focused on performance, I look forward to learning how Wondrlab teams create magic through a deep understanding of human behaviour. And I look forward to adding my specialization to making the same thinking relevant and performance worthy. There is so much for us to accomplish together.”

    Malabar Capital Advisors served as financial consultants for the Neon acquisition.

  • CleverTap acquires San Francisco based company Leanplum

    CleverTap acquires San Francisco based company Leanplum

    Mumbai: The retention cloud leader, CleverTap on Thursday has announced that it has signed definitive agreements to fully acquire San Francisco based Leanplum, a leading multi-channel customer engagement platform, for an undisclosed amount.

    This acquisition will make CleverTap a truly global company with development centers and customer-facing and success teams across North America, Europe, Latin America, India, South East Asia and the Middle East. Combining the product stack of the two organizations, this acquisition will enhance CleverTap’s capabilities and take its total customer base to over 1200 in more than 100 countries around the world. The deal is expected to close in Q2 of 2022.

    Together CleverTap and Leanplum will work with digital brands to help increase their users’ engagement, retention and lifetime value by making every user experience hyper-personalized, relevant and contextual at scale in real-time.  

    CleverTap and Leanplum will now bring real-time hyper-personalization, A/B testing and increased scalability to its omnichannel engagement, analytics and segmentation product lines. As a result, growth and marketing teams globally will now be able to utilize the only end-to-end user engagement and retention cloud platform, enabling them to break down user communication silos and increase the overall lifetime value of each user.

    CleverTap co-founder and executive chairman Sunil Thomas, “We are seeing a seismic shift in the marketing technology landscape. Users today demand to be treated as individuals, and this has forced brands to change how they engage with them. CleverTap and Leanplum have both purposely built for a mobile-centric omnichannel world.”

    The acquisition, he says, combines platforms and teams to deliver the best behaviour analytics, segmentation, and engagement tools that will enable digital brands to build valuable, long-term relationships with their users. “Our combined strength will be a game-changing force for user engagement, retention and monetization, creating tremendous value for our customers. I am very excited to welcome Leanplum to the CleverTap family.”

    “When we started Leanplum, our vision was to meet customers’ real-time needs at the cutting edge of technology,” said Leanplum’s Co-founder and chief product officer Momchil Kyurkchiev. “We have succeeded in that, but as the market has matured, to fully meet the increasing demands put on brands today, we needed to bring in the best analytics, segmentation, and engagement tools, to help our customers build valuable, long-term relationships with their customers. This is why joining forces with CleverTap makes the most sense, and I am excited about the combined capabilities we will now bring to Leanplum customers worldwide.”

    “I am looking forward to the journey with Leanplum. This coming together with Leanplum marks a monumental moment across the marketing technology landscape,” said CleverTap Chief Executive Officer Sidharth Malik. “This bridges the gap created by multiple martech tools and customer data platforms and will meet the growing needs of user-obsessed digital brands in a much more efficient way. Our ‘better together’ vision is about integrating our cumulative strengths around people, process and technology to cement our position as the global leader in the user engagement and retention space.”

    “Joining forces allows us to bring advanced product and technology capabilities as brands strive to do live segmentation, anticipate user intentions and actions, automate and deploy real-time campaigns for the highest possible conversions, all from one single dashboard,” he added.

  • The Twitter-Elon Musk tussle: To be ‘bot’ or not to be

    The Twitter-Elon Musk tussle: To be ‘bot’ or not to be

    Mumbai: The Twitter acquisition drama has been playing out- where else but on Twitter- on a daily basis (or hourly, if you go by Musk’s tweets) for the last several weeks. The latest in the Elon Musk-Twitter saga is that the Twitter Inc board has decided to go ahead and enforce its $44 billion agreement to be bought by Elon Musk. The board’s statement comes on the back of multiple tweets from Musk in the last several days that seem to indicate that the billionaire appears to be rethinking the whole deal.  

    “We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement,” the board said on Tuesday in a statement, adding, “the transaction is in the best interest of all shareholders.”

    Prior to this, the board voted to unanimously recommend that shareholders approve Musk’s $54.20 per share offer.

    Earlier on Tuesday, Elon Musk intensified his very public dispute with the Twitter CEO on the matter of bots or fake accounts on the platform, saying his acquisition of the social media company “cannot move forward” until he sees more information about the prevalence of spam accounts.

    “20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher. My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate. Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does,” Musk tweeted, citing an article by Teslarati, (which, by the way, is a media company and a publisher of news on Tesla, SpaceX, and ventures, affiliated with Musk himself!) that said, “Elon Musk may be looking for a better Twitter deal as $44 billion seems too high with 20% of users being fake or spam accounts.”

    The article suggested Twitter’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission were misleading. The company has maintained that less than five per cent of its daily active users are spam accounts.

    In yet another twist in the proposed acquisition, earlier on Friday, Musk had tweeted that his planned $44 billion purchase of Twitter is “temporarily on hold” pending details on spam and fake accounts on the social media platform.

    The proposed takeover includes a $ one billion breakup fee for each party, which means Musk will have to pay the said amount if he ends the deal or fails to deliver the acquisition funding as promised. Musk might be exempted from that requirement only if he can show a material change in the company’s situation or the information it has provided.

    This is just the latest in a series of twists and U-turns that have been doing the rounds on the platform, regarding the company’s take over by Musk amid increasing signs of internal turmoil between the two parties.

    In fact, ever since the billionaire grandly announced his offer to buy out the micro blogging platform on 14 April, the platform has been abuzz with new speculations on the acquisition front, mostly triggered by the Tesla founder himself. Musk has been highly active on the platform even before that, and became more so vocal about the site’s alleged shortcomings when he started building his stake in the company and became an active investor in April this year.

    This led to speculations on Musk being keen to join the company’s board, further amplified by the Twitter CEO’s own tweet on 5 April welcoming Musk onboard, where Agrawal wrote about the billionaire: “He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term.”

    However, Musk surprised everyone- most of all, the Twitter management- by rejecting the company’s offer to join its board, instead offering to buy out the company itself!

    With Twitter now committed to completing the sale even as Musk continues to drag his feet over it, it remains to be seen how the rest of this very public saga plays out!

  • AMG Media Networks to acquire 49 per cent stake in QBM

    AMG Media Networks to acquire 49 per cent stake in QBM

    Mumbai: AMG Media Networks Ltd, a part of Adani Enterprises Ltd, has signed definitive agreements with Quintillion Media Ltd and Quintillion Business Media Ltd to acquire 49 per cent stake in Quintillion Business Media (QBM). Quintillion Business Media owns and operates an exclusive business and financial news digital media platform.

    AMG Media Networks Ltd is the media arm of Adani Enterprises that carries on business of media related activities including publishing, advertising, broadcasting, distributing of content over different types of media networks. The company is expected to commence its business operations soon and is helmed by Sanjay Pugalia as CEO and editor-in-chief of media initiatives. Pugalia is a veteran journalist who has worked with The Quint, CNBC Awaaz, Zee News, Aaj Tak, Business Standard, NBT and Star News. 

    As per Registrar of Companies (ROC), AMG Media Networks has three directors including Adani Enterprises director Pranav Vinod Adani, Adani Enterprises chief technology officer Sudipta Bhattacharya and Sanjay Pugalia.

    In March, QBM – an indirect subsidiary of Quint Digital – announced that Adani Group would acquire a minority stake in the company. QBM owns and operates the digital platform BloombergQuint now renamed as ‘BQPrime’ that covers business and financial news in India.

  • Swiggy announces acquisition of Dineout from Times Internet

    Swiggy announces acquisition of Dineout from Times Internet

    Mumbai: Marking its foray into the high-use dining out category, Swiggy India on Saturday announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Times Internet to acquire its dining out and restaurant tech platform, Dineout. Its founders Ankit Mehrotra, Nikhil Bakshi, Sahil Jain and Vivek Kapoor will join Swiggy once the acquisition is completed, while Dineout will continue to operate as an independent app, the food aggregator said in a statement.

    Announcing the development on Saturday on LinkedIn, Swiggy India posted: “It’s a big day for #Swiggy and we’re happy to announce that we have acquired #Dineout – India’s leading dining out and restaurant tech platform.”

    Dineout brings with it a network of over 50,000 restaurant partners along with a ‘proven technology’ and ‘invaluable experience’ that Swiggy can benefit from.  

    “Dineout is a well-loved brand that enjoys loyalty from both consumers and restaurants. Times Internet and the founding team should be credited for the transformational impact they have brought about in the dining out experience through their products, technology and vast selection of restaurant partners,” said Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety. “The acquisition will allow Swiggy to explore synergies and offer new experiences in a high-use category.”

    The acquisition will enable the food aggregator to cater to every food occasion by capitalising on Dineout’s assets and position in the dining out space, the statement said. “Swiggy will double down on the synergies with Dineout’s offerings, including dining out table reservations and events. In time, restaurant partners will be able to reach more customers and grow their business,” it added.

    “At Dineout, we always wanted to revolutionise the restaurant industry and this acquisition is an accelerating step towards the same goal. We strongly feel that with Swiggy’s deep understanding of the ecosystem and our shared passion for a superior consumer and restaurant experience, our joint forces will help provide a holistic platform in this industry,” said Dineout co-founder & CEO Ankit Mehrotra.

    Times Internet vice chairman Satyan Gajwani added, “We are proud of the positive impact that Dineout has created for consumers and restaurants, helping streamline and improve the eating out experience. Swiggy + Dineout is a powerful combination, and we are excited to join forces with Swiggy as we continue to look for ways to delight customers.”

    In the last 20 months, Swiggy has strengthened its food delivery business, expanded Instamart, its quick commerce grocery delivery to 28 cities, and Genie, its pick up and drop service to 68 cities.

  • Adani Wilmar buys Kohinoor brand

    Adani Wilmar buys Kohinoor brand

    Mumbai: Adani Wilmar Ltd announced the acquisition of several brands including Kohinoor brand – domestic (India region) from McCormick Switzerland GMBH for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will give Adani Wilmar exclusive rights over the brand Kohinoor basmati rice along with ‘ready to cook’ and ‘ready to eat’ curries and meals portfolio under the Kohinoor brand umbrella in India.

    “The addition of Kohinoor’s domestic brand portfolio strengthens Adani Wilmar’s leadership position in the food FMCG category by augmenting a strong product basket with premium brands along with potential to scale value added products,” said the statement. “It also leverages the reach of Kohinoor brand to drive synergies for Adani Wilmar across geographies and complements the reach of its flagship brand ‘Fortune’ in the food FMCG domain.”

    “The acquisition will fuel the next level of growth to Adani Wilmar and widen the portfolio to cater to premium customer segments across rice and other value-added food businesses,” it added.

    The Kohinoor brand portfolio comprises ‘Kohinoor’ for premium Basmati rice, ‘Charminar’ for affordable rice and ‘Trophy’ for HORECA (Hotel/Restaurant/Catering) segment.

    “Adani Wilmar is pleased to welcome the Kohinoor brand to the Fortune family,” said Adani Wilmar managing director and chief executive officer Angshu Mallick. “Kohinoor is a trusted brand which represents the authentic flavours of India and is loved by consumers. This acquisition is in sync with our business strategy to expand our portfolio in the higher margin branded staples and food products segment. We believe the packaged food category is under-penetrated with significant headroom for growth. The Kohinoor Brand has a strong brand recall and will help accelerate our leadership position in the Food FMCG category.”

  • Nykaa Fashion expands its activewear portfolio by acquiring Kica

    Nykaa Fashion expands its activewear portfolio by acquiring Kica

    Mumbai: In a bid to strengthen its activewear portfolio, Nykaa Fashion, the multi-brand lifestyle e-commerce platform has announced the acquisition of the Indian activewear brand Kica.

    Founded by Aneesha Labroo in 2017, Kica was born out of the need to bridge the gap between stylish, high-quality products at an affordable price. “Having launched Nykd All Day last year, Nykaa Fashion now adds Kica to its portfolio, offering the growing active-wear community of athletes and everyday fitness seekers greater variety and curation in this category,” said the statement.

    “We welcome Kica into the Nykaa Fashion family to serve the growing demand for high-quality, fashionable, and functional activewear. With a strong vision to empower women to lead an active lifestyle, Kica is a brand that brings equal passion to product and community both,” said Nykaa co-founder and Nykaa Fashion CEO Adwaita Nayar. “We are excited to scale this brand further, alongside the dynamic and passionate entrepreneur, Aneesha.”

    Kica, along with other consumer brands like Nykd, Pipa Bella, Twenty Dresses, RSVP, Gajra Gang, IYKYK, and Likha, is an integral part of Nykaa Fashion’s market expansion this year, according to the statement.

    “Kica has found strong synergies with Nykaa Fashion’s positioning within the e-commerce landscape and its engagement with a wide network of customers around the country,” commented Kica founder Aneesha Labroo. “We are thrilled to be part of the Nykaa Fashion family and will continue to develop community initiatives that empower & motivate women to lead healthy, active lives. Movement develops confidence, and mental & physical wellbeing, bringing about a positive outlook that is truly transformational.”