If the only superpower, which calls India an ally, sees the region through an India-Pakistan prism, it is unacceptable. Rather than endorse India's sphere of influence, this undermines it, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Investment firm General Atlantic is expected to buy a 0.1 per cent stake in Facebook, an investment which will value the social networking site at $65 billion.
'He's gonna inspire billions of girls and boys.'
Unacademy on Monday said it has raised $440 million (about Rs 3,270.8 crore) in funding from a clutch of investors including Temasek, General Atlantic, and Softbank Vision Fund, valuing the edtech major at $3.44 billion. The investment is expected to help Unacademy expand its offerings, deepen its presence and compete more aggressively against rivals such as Byju's in the burgeoning ed-tech space in India that has been witnessing strong uptake amid the pandemic. The series H round was led by Temasek, with super pro-rata participation from General Atlantic, Tiger Global, and Softbank Vision Fund, a statement said.
The 6,600-km submarine cable system would be operated and managed by Telxius.
Edtech major Think and Learn, which operates under Byju's brand name, is learnt to have received a commitment of $300 million from investors for its ongoing rights issue which will close by the end of February, sources aware of the development said. Byju's floated a rights issue in January to raise $200 million at an enterprise valuation in the range of $220-250 million which is a 99 per cent reduction in its peak valuation of $22 billion. Sources also shared that Byju's has offered miffed investors to appoint two independent directors to enhance transparency but only after the rights issue and declaring its financial results for the 2023 fiscal.
Speaking to reporters during a meeting with Rutte at the White House on Thursday (local time), Trump said the US needs Greenland for "international security" and hinted at future discussions on the matter.
'Despite the animosity shown by some of the investors in pursuing uncalled for legal actions, we continue to show good faith towards all our shareholders.'
Arjun Mohan, CEO of India operations of Think and Learn, which owns Byju's brand, has resigned from the beleaguered firm, which on Monday also announced a business rejig consolidating its operations into three verticals. Mohan had joined Byju's in July last year as the CEO for international business after quitting rival UpGrad in February as CEO. Later, he was given charge of India operations in September after Byju's then CEO Mrinal Mohit resigned. After taking over the charge, Mohan undertook restructuring of the organisation which led to layoffs of around 4,000 employees at Byju's.
Prominent exits by promoters included a Rs 15,300 crore share sale in Indus Tower by Vodafone Plc, a Rs 9,300 crore share sale by the Tata group in Tata Consultancy Services.
Edtech firm Think and Learn Private Ltd, owner of Byju's, on Thursday said neither the company's founder and CEO Byju Raveendran nor any other board member will attend the extraordinary general meeting called by some select investors. Shareholders at Byju's are set to vote on Friday on a resolution brought by some investors to oust founder CEO Byju Raveendran and his family members over alleged "mismanagement and failures". Byju's has called the EGM "procedurally invalid" and contractually in contravention of the company's article of association and shareholder's agreement.
Kyiv School of Economics President Tymofiy Mylovanov shared a video of Zelenskyy responding to a question from BBC News in Ukrainian. Zelenskyy stated that he is focused on Ukraine's security today and not staying in power for decades.
Cash-strapped edtech firm Byju's is likely to pay its employees the April salaries this week, according to sources. The company is grappling with the issue of delays in paying salaries to employees. "There has been a delay in salary. It is expected to be now paid sometime this week," said a person.
NTT had earlier sought the combined 63 per cent stake of the promoters and private equity firm General Atlantic Partners, but their exclusive talks failed due to a valuation mismatch.
Promoters Narendra Patni and his younger brothers Gajendra and Ashok hold equal stakes totalling 48.3 per cent in India's sixth largest software exporter.
Edtech firm Uncademy will lay off 12 per cent or about 350 employees amid a funding crunch as it strives to make the core business profitable, a top company official said. In an internal note, Unacademy co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal mentioned that a decision has been taken to meet the goals in the current distressed global economic situation when funding is scarce. "We have taken every step in the right direction to make our core business profitable, yet it's not enough.
With debt woes and a legal case in the US courts, educational technology (edtech) giant Byju's is expected to be laying off more employees, according to media reports. According to The Morning Context report, Byju's intends to lay off 1,000 employees. This number, however, could not be confirmed by Business Standard independently. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the reports.
Since September, Reliance Retail has raised money from Silver Lake, KKR, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority , GIC, TPG, General Atlantic and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in a divestment programme that mirrored sister Jio Platforms a few months earlier.
Ajay Banga was on Wednesday appointed the next president of the World Bank, becoming the first-ever Indian-American to head the global financial institution which said it looks forward to working with him at a time when it's tackling the toughest development challenges facing developing countries. "The executive directors of the World Bank today selected Ajay Banga as president of the World Bank for a five-year term beginning June 2, 2023," the bank said in a press statement. In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga, 63, to lead the World Bank because he is "well equipped" to lead the global institution at "this critical moment in history."
Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) is discussing a three-pronged plan that includes an additional divestment of $250-300 million this year, apart from what it has diluted in favour of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and US-based private equity fund KKR recently.
Arson attacks and other 'malicious acts' has hit France's high speed train network, disrupting the transport system, the country's national rail operator said on Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
PhonePe said on Tuesday it has launched a service that will allow the fintech firm's Indian users traveling abroad to pay foreign merchants using Unified Payments Interface (UPI). 'UPI international' supports merchant outlets in UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan that have a local QR (quick response) code. Users will be able to make direct payments in a foreign currency from their Indian bank, like they do with international debit cards.
The US is currently Earth's most powerful country and a certain latitude of understanding -- a world view -- is popularly expected from its leadership. From a country identified with freedom, constitution, debate, democracy and the likes of Abraham Lincoln even as it had the most powerful military around, the US, following Trump's actions, seemed repositioned as militarily powerful with other qualities secondary, observes Shyam G Menon.
India's largest edtech firm Byju's will fire 1,000 employees in a fresh round of layoffs across departments. With the latest round, total job cuts at the company have mounted to around 3,500. According to sources, fresh job cuts are an attempt by the company to improve its finances and work towards a path to profitability.
Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will acquire around 1 per cent stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), the retail arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, by investing Rs 8,278 crore ($1 billion). A QIA's wholly-owned subsidiary will make the investment in India's largest retailer at a valuation of Rs 8.278 lakh crore ($100 billion). Updating about the development, Reliance Industries in a regulatory filing said: "QIA's investment will translate into a minority equity stake of 0.99 per cent in RRVL on a fully-diluted basis." RRVL is the holding company for all retail businesses of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is in early discussions to buy a minority stake in billionaire Mukesh Ambani's rapidly expanding retail unit for about $1 billion (Rs 8,200 crore), sources said. The Qatar Investment Authority is keen on tapping the fast-growing Indian market and has entered into a discussion to buy about 1 per cent stake in Reliance Retail Ventures, sources with knowledge of the matter said. Talks, sources said, are at a preliminary stage and being led by an executive director on the board of parent Reliance Industries Ltd.
An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of Byju's shareholders got underway on Friday to vote on a resolution brought by some investors to ouster founder CEO Byju Raveendran and his family over alleged "mismanagement and failures". Raveendran and his family stayed away from the EGM, calling it "procedurally invalid."
Indian-American business leader Ajay Banga is poised to become the next President of the World Bank after the nomination period closed and no country proposed an alternate candidate for the prestigious post. In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga to lead the World Bank because he is "well equipped" to lead the global institution at "this critical moment in history." The World Bank on Wednesday closed a month-long window for nominations for its next president, with no alternatives announced to 63-year-old Banga.
Sorabjee had been honoured with Padma Vibhushan in 2002 for his defence of the freedom of expression and the protection of human rights.
United States President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he understands the Russian feeling with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) being on their doorstep.
The new partnership on the block doesn't exactly boast novices. Sunish Sharma, managing director at General Atlantic, and another PE veteranManish Kejriwalthe Indian head of the Singapore government-owned Temasek Holdings (who is also married into the super rich Bajaj family) have come together to raise an independent private equity fund.
In an address from the lectern on the steps of 10 Downing Street on a rainy London evening, Britain's first Prime Minister of Indian heritage confirmed a summer poll in six weeks' time and that the Parliament would soon be dissolved after he formally informed King Charles III of the election timeline.
Global investment firm KKR will invest Rs 2,069.50 crore in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd for a 0.25 per cent additional stake of the retailer at a valuation of about Rs 8.36 lakh crore, Reliance Industries Ltd said on Monday. After this investment, KKR's shareholding in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), the holding company of the retail business of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, will increase to 1.42 per cent from 1.17 per cent. The investment is at "a pre-money equity value of Rs 8.361 lakh crore (around $100.87 billion)", said a joint statement.
President Obama had been justifiably angered by McChrystal's irreverent remarks which appeared in Rolling Stone. His irreverent remarks caused considerable embarrassment in the Pentagon and the White House. His dismissal was inevitable.
US-based iGate on Monday said it has acquired nearly 63 per cent stake in country's sixth largest IT firm Patni Computer Systems for $1. 22 billion.
IT firm iGATE on Thursday announced the successful completion of Patni acquisition and appointment of Phaneesh Murthy as CEO of Patni.
Images that should keep you grinning for days on end.
Education topped the table with nearly $1.755 billion as against $379 million last year, followed by real estate which received $754 million.
US-listed iGate's open offer for buying a little over 20 per cent stake in Indian IT company Patni Computer Systems will begin on April 8 and close on April 27.
BlackRock has again reduced the valuation of its share in edtech firm Byju's - this time to about $1 billion, TechCrunch reported on Friday, citing disclosures made by the US-based asset manager. This is 95 per cent less than its peak valuation of $22 billion in 2022. The markdown comes at a time when the company is facing a multitude of challenges, including securing fresh capital, delays in financial reporting and legal disputes with lenders.
