Zomato is in talks to buy Paytm’s movies and events business as the food delivery platform attempts to beef up its ‘going out’ business.
No binding decision has been taken at this stage, Zomato said in a regulatory filing, adding that the discussion is being undertaken “with an intent to further strengthen our going-out business and is in line with our stated position of focusing only on our four key businesses currently.”
A potential deal could value the business at around Rs 1,600-1,750 crore, the Economic Times reported. If the deal goes through, Paytm’s business will join a list of Zomato’s other recent acquisitions such as Uber Eats’ India business and Blinkit.
Zomato’s ‘going out’ business, which hosts food carnivals called Zomaland, could become a separate app, the company had said previously.
For the fourth quarter of 2024, the segment generated a revenue of Rs 93 crore, with a gross order value (GOV) of Rs 1,069 crore.
The acquisition talks with Paytm come nearly six years after the digital payments company acquired ticketing platform Insider.in, which allows users to book tickets for NH7 Weekender, EDC and The Grub Fest, for Rs 35 crore. Later Paytm also acquired TicketNew, a Chennai-based movie booking platform for $40 million.
The Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led Paytm, backed by behemoths such as SoftBank and Alibaba Group, has been caught in the crosshairs of Indian regulation. Last month, Paytm posted a quarterly loss that widened to $66.08 million, after the central bank barred Paytm Payments Bank from accepting deposits in both its accounts and digital wallets. The firm has lost nearly half its value in the last few months after RBI’s diktat.
