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BUSINESS EYE FEBRUARY 11, 2022 | The Indian Eye 44

bIg teCH’s bIg trouble:

Meta faces data challenge,

amazon tie-up on hold

Much to the disappointment of book lovers, Westland, one of the largest publishing houses in

India, is being shut down by e-commerce giant Amazon

ance deal on hold.
OUR BUREAU The Delhi High Court — in its
October 29 verdict last year — said
New Delhi/Mumbai
it will not interfere with SIAC’s or-
ncrease in data rates in India lim- der on the Rs 24,713 crore merger
ited the user growth of Meta (for- deal. Before that, the HC on Febru-
Imerly Facebook) in the Decem- ary 2 had directed status quo to be
ber 2021 quarter, the social media maintained concerning the merger
major has said. Telecom companies deal, and on March 18, it attached
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Re- the properties of Future Group pro-
liance Jio had increased their mobile moter Kishore Biyani and other offi-
service rates in the range of 18 to 25 cials linked to the company.
per cent in the December quarter. Meanwhile, in a related devel-
opment, much to the disappoint-
the profit of Meta declined by ment of book lovers, Westland, one
of the largest publishing houses in
8 per cent to $10.28 billion India, is being shut down by e-com-

in the december 2021 quar- merce giant Amazon.
The publishing company, which
ter, from $11.21 billion in the was acquired by Amazon from Trent
same period a year ago. data Ltd, a subsidiary of Tata Group, in
2016, has published works of several
price hikes limited Facebook bestselling authors, including Amish

user growth in India: Meta Tripathi, Chetan Bhagat, Ashwin
Sanghi, Rashmi Bansal, Rujuta Di-
wekar, Preeti Shenoy, Devdutt Pat-
Traders hold an effigy of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos during a protest against foreign e-com-
“Facebook user growth was im- tanaik, Anuja Chauhan and Ravi
pacted by a few headwinds in the merce companies operating in the country in Bhopal (ANI) Subramanian.
fourth quarter. In Asia-Pacific and “After a thorough review, we
Rest of World, we believe Covid tive people base increased by 9 per with Reliance Group on an appeal have made the difficult decision to
resurgences during prior periods cent y-o-y to 3.59 billion and daily by retail giant Amazon, and ordered no longer operate Westland. We are
pulled forward user growth. active people base rose 8 per cent fresh adjudication over the issue. working closely with the employees,
User growth in India was also on an average to 2.82 billion. The The top court bench headed by authors, agents, and distribution
limited by an increase in data pack- total revenue of Meta jumped by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana partners on this transition and we
age pricing. 20 per cent to $33.67 billion during also quashed two other orders of remain committed to innovating for
“In addition to these factors, the quarter, from $28 billion in the the High Court over the dispute. It customers in India,” said Amazon in
we believe competitive services are same period of 2020. found “procedural errors” with the a statement.
negatively impacting growth, partic- For the year ended December HC’s orders and said the Future The news regarding the closure
ularly with younger audiences,” Me- 31, Meta’s net profit increased by 35 Group was not provided “insuffi- came as a shock to the editors, West-
ta’s Chief Financial Officer Dave per cent to $39.37 billion, compared cient” opportunity while dealing land team members and its public
Wehner said during an earnings call. to $29.15 billion in 2020. with the pleas of US online retail relations agency, who according to a
Its monthly active users (MAUs), Total revenue climbed 37 per giant Amazon. staff member requesting anonymity,
however, grew 4 per cent on an an- cent to $117.92 billion for the year The issue dates back to 2020, were informed about the decision
nual basis to 2.91 billion, while daily 2021 from $85.96 billion in 2020. when Amazon approached the Sin- today only.
active users (DAUs) increased 5 per In another big setback to Big gapore International Arbitration It was particularly sad for best-
cent to 1.93 billion, as of December Tech, the Supreme Court on Tues- Centre (SIAC) arguing that the Fu- selling fiction writer Ashwin Sang-
31, 2021. day set aside the Delhi High Court’s ture Group’s deal with Mukesh Am- hi, who wrote his debut novel with
For its family of apps, which 2021 order, refusing to stay the rul- bani-led Reliance Retail was a vio- Westland in 2008 and went on to
includes Facebook, Instagram, Mes- ing of an international tribunal that lation of their contract. The SIAC publish a “dozen books” over that
senger, Whatsapp etc, monthly ac- had halted the Future Group’s deal subsequently put the Future-Reli- many years.

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