After film producers started talks with leading video streaming services to directly release their films on the OTT platforms, a war of words has broken out between the producers and the multiplexes who are miffed at producers skipping the ‘theatrical window’. Theatrical window is the period between a film’s release in movie theaters and its […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi India’s top technology companies are providing digital training to blue- and grey-collar workers as well as external stakeholders like corner stores, as they scale up operations almost overnight amid an acute labour shortage because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Startups including Swiggy, Zomato, Grofers, BigBasket and Flipkart among others have had to impart […]

Facebook is buying the popular GIF search engine Giphy, with plans to further integrate the GIF library into Instagram and other Facebook apps. Giphy will be part of the Instagram team and the service will continue to operate its massive library, the company said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Axios, which first […]

Happy Friday! India’s food delivery startups have fallen on hard times. As the country went into lockdown, their order volumes fell 70%. After several weeks of shutdown, a large number of restaurants have already closed permanently. And, according to Zomato, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Food ordering apps have realised that there’s no […]

US-based cloud infrastructure provider DigitalOcean has closed a $50 million Series C funding round led by existing investors Access Industries with participation from Andreessen Horowitz. The funding follows the $320 million debt financing in February this year and brings DigitalOcean’s equity valuation to $1.15 billion, the company said on Thursday. “We are delighted to extend […]

By Elaine Glusac Airbnb, born in 2008, famously disrupted the hotel industry. It stole market share, put pressure on hotel rates, inspired the creation of affordable brands and saw hotels across the spectrum create restaurants, bars and lobbies that channeled the local vibe. Airbnb’s recent layoff of a quarter of its workforce indicates the financial […]

Food delivery platform Zomato will layoff 520 employees, or 13% of its workforce, and temporarily cut salaries of the rest, the company’s founder said in an internal email on Friday, as the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant nationwide lockdown has hit its businesses. Employees who are being let go will receive half their salaries along with […]

The 25% reduction in tax deducted at source (TDS) on e-commerce participants from October will benefit merchants or sellers, said tax experts, adding that the reduced TDS on commissions will provide them with more working capital immediately. However, sellers and e-commerce marketplaces still say that the TDS levy should be removed altogether as it will […]

The tug of war between the video streaming services (over-the-top players) and the multiplexes is set to intensify after Amazon Prime Video fired the latest salvo by acquiring seven Bollywood and regional films, including Amitabh Bachchan-Ayushmann Khurrana’s ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ and Vidya Balan-starrer ‘Shakuntala Devi’ for direct-to-digital premiere. The move will allow the producers and studios […]

Even as the sale of products such as smartphones, laptops, air conditioners, coolers and home furnishings could increase once the government lifts restrictions on commerce in red zones, the demand could be short-lived as a majority of consumers would refrain from spending on non-essential items, a survey showed. The survey, which gauged the purchasing sentiment […]