ZOMATO agreed to buy Paytm’s movie and events ticketing business for 20.5 billion rupees (S$319 million) in cash, snapping up an asset from the fintech pioneer to move beyond food and grocery delivery.
As part of deal, Paytm parent One97 Communications will transfer its entire stake in the entertainment ticketing business to two units that Zomato will buy out, according to public filings by the companies. Bloomberg reported in June that the two companies were in talks.
Zomato is capitalising on its success in food delivery to expand in adjacent areas. In 2020, the Indian meal delivery leader acquired Uber Technologies’s local food unit. Zomato’s shares have more than tripled since its 2021 initial public offering.
For Paytm, the sale helps sharpen its focus on core areas such as payments, distribution of financial services such as loans, deals and cash-back – businesses that are important for broadening its merchant base and increasing revenue. The company has been trying to reinvent itself after a regulatory crackdown early this year hit its business.
Paytm’s entertainment ticketing business clocked sales of nearly three billion rupees and made 290 million rupees in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in the fiscal year to March 2024. BLOOMBERG
