Zomato, Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in 2008, is in talks to acquire Paytm’s movies and ticketing business. The move was made public by Zomato through a regulatory filing after several media reports suggested that this deal was currently under talks.
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“We have noticed that there are certain news articles circulating in the mainstream media with the subject “Zomato in talks to acquire Paytm’s movies, ticketing business”. This voluntary disclosure is being made to clarify our stance on the matter given that any transaction that is considered potentially meaningful may create uncertainty in the market,” said the company in a filing.
They also admitted to being in talks with Paytm. “We acknowledge that we are in discussions with Paytm for the aforementioned transaction, however, no binding decision has been taken at this stage that would warrant a Board approval and subsequent disclosure in accordance with applicable law. The above 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,” they said while stating that all information would be made public on its official website in case the deal comes through.
While Deepinder Goyal has not mentioned anything on this development so far, he had hinted on an announcement along similar lines last month. “Coming soon” Goyal had posted on social media platform X with a picture displaying all offerings including quick commerce, ticketing and dining out.
Others Interested in Paytm
Recently, reports had also suggested that Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm had been in talks for Adani to buy a stake in One 97 Communications, the company that owns Paytm. However, Paytm had categorically denied the reports calling them speculative. “With reference to the captioned subject, we hereby clarify that the above mentioned news item is speculative and the Company is not engaged in any discussions in this regard,” they had said. However, as far as the deal with Zomato in concerned, Paytm had not issued any statement at the time this report was published.
