It’s earnings week and things aren’t looking great for Big Tech as both Alphabet and Microsoft reported disappointing results.
Microsoft’s quarterly net income was $17.6 billion, down 14% from the corresponding period of the last fiscal, while its revenue was $50.1 billion, up 11% year over year. This was the company’s weakest quarter in five years.
Google’s parent company, on the other hand, reported revenue of $69.1 billion, missing analyst expectations by a hair ($70.58 billion). Its revenue growth slowed down to just 6% from 41% a year earlier.
In other news, National Geographic has a list of 25 must-see places for your 2023 travel itinerary.
“Adventure is out there.”
Or, maybe adventure is just doomscrolling on Instagram. Who knows?
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Restaurants log out of Swiggy Dineout
- Shiprocket slips into loss in FY22
- Building on the passion economy
Here’s your trivia for today: What was the first movie to be rated PG-13?
Foodtech
Restaurants log out of Swiggy Dineout
Hundreds of big-brand restaurants have delisted from Swiggy Dineout ever since the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) urged its members to do so, saying that its deep discounting practices are hurting them.
Several hospitality chains, including Indigo Hospitality, Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality, and Simmering Foods and Restaurants have confirmed the development to YourStory.
Dineout walkout:
- At least 400 brands and over 900 dining outlets across 13 cities in India have sent delisting notices, a source at NRAI tells YourStory.
- The delisting process at Swiggy can take two weeks to a month to be completed.
- Swiggy says only a few restaurants want to delist and the foodtech giant is engaging with them and NRAI representatives.
Logistics
Shiprocket slips into loss
Logistics enablement platform Shiprocket reported Rs 611.13 crore revenue from operations for the financial year 2021-22, a 70.7% jump from the year-ago period with revenue of Rs 358.0 crore, according to filings made with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Ballooning losses:
- The company turned a unicorn earlier in August, at a valuation of $1.3 billion after raising $32.6 million from returning investors Lightrock, Temasek, Bertelsmann, Moore Strategic Ventures, and others.
- Shiprocket accrued losses of Rs 93.15 crore for FY22 as compared to profits of Rs 12.47 crore for FY21.
- Its expenses ballooned by nearly 107% for FY22 to Rs 727.8 crore, largely due to the cost of materials.
Web3
Building on the passion economy
Govind Singh, Archana Trasy, and Gautam B Thakker decided to launch Kulturemint, with a vision for a marketplace exclusively for artists.
To the founders, the idea is simple; building on the passion economy, which refers to the idea of converting one’s passions or skills into a monetisable ability.
The hustle:
- The platform has Urdu poet Gulzar’s timeless works such as Baarish (rain at night), Lal Haveli (The Red Bungalow), One-Sided Love, and Samundar (Ocean) as one-of-a-kind NFTs.
- To maintain exclusivity for some pieces, it also has a live auction feature where artists can set a fixed price or use the platform’s bidding engine to set a base price.
- Kulturemint gives artists the ability to experiment with the form, publish, and earn money directly without the intervention of traditional publishing houses as gatekeepers.
News & updates
- Safety first: UK media regulator Ofcom CEO Melanie Dawes said that self-regulation of the metaverse, a hypothetical digital world touted by Meta and others, wouldn’t fly under UK online safety laws. The UK is “in good stead” to regulate the technology, she said.
- Fuelling demand: Oil giant Saudi Aramco launched a $1.5 billion fund to support an inclusive global energy transition while Saudi officials said the switch from hydrocarbons could take decades, necessitating continued investment in conventional resources.
- Rationality check: As employee layoffs, CEO resignations and belt-tightenings eliminate some of the excessive perks for which tech companies are known, unicorns are becoming rare in the startup ecosystem. The shock waves could eventually hit innovation and reduce competition in an industry already dominated by Big Tech companies.
What was the first movie to be rated PG-13?
Answer: Action thriller Red Dawn, starring Patrick Swayze. It was in 1984.
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