Zomato, the food delivery giant from India, has entered the entertainment business through the acquisition of Paytm Insider, the ticketing and events platform of One 97 Communications Limited (OCL) for ₹2,048 crore. This strategic move will allow Zomato to venture into the ticketing business for entertainment and expand its portfolio beyond food delivery and dining.
The Deal Structure
As per the agreement, OCL will first move Paytm Insiders to its wholly owned subsidiaries – Orbgen Technologies Private Limited (OTPL) and Wasteland Entertainment Private Limited (WEPL). After this step, Zomato will acquire OTPL and WEPL. The transfer will also include around 280 existing employees of Paytm Insider to Zomato.
Where Will Tickets Be Available?
OCL made a statement and said that during a transition period of 12 months, the ticketing services will continue to be available on the Paytm application to help ensure that their customers and merchants have an uninterrupted experience. Zomato will now be able to compete with Paytm Insider’s competitor – BookMyShow, which is India’s largest ticketing business.
Deepinder Goyal’s Statement
Zomato’s CEO, Deepinder Goyal while talking about acquiring Paytm Insider said, “This is not really an absolutely new business for us as we have already been doing ticketing as a business for more than a year now and have been eyeing building more use-cases for that business… It never gets spoken about much given all the attention food delivery and quick commerce get but this is already a profitable and large business for us.”
Deepinder’s Views on the Team
While talking about the team of Paytm Insider, Deepinder said, “On the people side, this acquisition is our first major acquisition where we are acquiring a team that we do not know very well. We are betting on the team much more this time and hoping everything works out well. The main driver of success is going to be cultural integration of the new team that will join us – which means assimilation of the new team into our flattish culture.” When Zomato acquired Uber Eats, they did not retrieve its team and during the acquisition of Blinkit, they knew the founder and the team very well.
Paytm Spokesperson’s Statement
Talking about Zomato acquiring Paytm Insider, the spokesperson of Paytm said, “We built the entertainment ticketing business by addressing the market needs of the time … This move (to sell the business) allows us to continue focusing on long-term growth in our core areas and value creation for all stakeholders.”