World’s largest OTT platform, Netflix layoffs 150 employees from its workforce. The firm has been lately striving hard to retain its falling number of subscribers, but it seems Netflix could not succeed in stopping the number of subscribers from plummeting. So, Netflix on Tuesday announced that it was laying off 2 percent of its staff.

The layoffs will mainly affect its office in the United States, which is located in the state of California. They make up roughly 2 percent of the company’s workforce in North America, somewhere around 7,500 people.

Why Netflix Layoffs Its Staff?

Netflix announced in April 2022 that it had lost 200,000 members in the first three months of the year. This was the first time that the streaming service had ever seen a significant decline in consumers. The company also warned that another two million users were projected to flee in the next quarter.

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Despite these losses, Netflix remains the undisputed market leader with 220 million subscribers worldwide. However, its rivals are expanding at a much quicker pace than before, and they are starting to intrude into its domain by providing content and services that are alternative to their own.

Netflix has already taken steps to address this issue by reducing its workforce by 2% (around 150 employees) to reduce costs and increase efficiency. However, some analysts believe that further layoffs may be necessary if Netflix wants to remain competitive as its rivals continue their meteoric rise in popularity among customers worldwide.

“Netflix’s recent financial report showed that the business had lost customers due to the conflict in Ukraine and its decision to hike pricing in the United States. It was found that only leaving the Russian market had resulted in a loss of 700,000 subscribers for the business.
However, this was not the only bad news for Netflix. The company also announced an increase in its quarterly losses and said that it would be raising prices for new customers.

Clarification On Netflix Layoffs

A spokesperson for Netflix has released a statement regarding the company’s recent decision to reduce the number of employees by 2%.
The statement reads: “These decisions are primarily motivated by business requirements rather than individual performance, making them highly challenging since none of us want to say goodbye to such terrific colleagues.

The statement did not clarify which divisions of Netflix were impacted by these layoffs; however, according to the reports, content creation and recruitment departments and communications departments were affected by these job cuts.

Netflix is also trimming the number of its original productions. To minimize expenses, it decided to stop the creation of Pearl, an animated series that Meghan Markle developed. This decision was made in early May.

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Testing Alternative Revenue Models

Since it announced that it would be raising prices, Netflix has been investigating other ways that it may make cash. While the company has said that it still needs more time to figure out how these changes will affect its users, they have already begun testing ad-based pricing models.

The company is also working with advertisers to ensure that their ads are relevant instead of interrupting the user experience.
The OTT company also stated that it would be cracking down on password sharing among family members or friends who may be sharing accounts. Netflix said this practice was responsible for losing 100 million homes in worldwide markets, including India and China.

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According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), virtual currencies gaining ground in India, including the newly founded Non-Fungible Tokens, will never be accepted as legal tender in India, which creates doubts about crypto legalization in India, Somanathan, Finance Secretary of India, stressed that only digital currencies that would not default would be supported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).  TV Somanathan was speaking about the central bank’s stand on cryptocurrencies after Finance Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed that virtual digital assets will be subject to a 30 percent tax.

Crypto legalization can never be considered in India Cryptocurrencies and NFT are digital currencies whose price is determined by a transaction between two parties.

TV Somanathan On Crypto Legalization

After being pressed to clarify his position, the Finance Secretary said that anyone who seeks to engage in private cryptocurrency should be aware that such investments do not have the government’s permission and that there is no guarantee whether their investment will be profitable or not. He went on to say that although one may incur losses, the central government is under no obligation to reimburse one for such losses.

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Providing clarity on the issues of cryptocurrency and crypto legalization, Somanathan stated the Reserve Bank of India would support the digital currency, and the money will be under its control; nevertheless, the currency will be digital in form. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has declared that the digital rupee that it will create would be recognized as legitimate money.  TV Somanathan said, “The rest of them do not fall under legal tender as per the opinion of the Reserve Bank of India, and they will never have legal tender status.

As part of her Budget 2022 address, the Finance minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, proposed a 30 percent tax on digital assets derived from virtual assets delivered on Tuesday. The scale and prevalence of these transactions, in her opinion, have increased dramatically in recent years, and she believes that a particular tax system should be formed to address the frequency and amplitude of these transactions.

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It has been clarified that, except for the cost of purchase, no deductions would be permitted in respect of any expenditures or allowances while calculating such income, according to her. Aside from that, she recommended an additional 1% service fee on payments made regarding payments on virtual digital assets that are transmitted in amounts more than and equal to the threshold monetary amount. The proposed 30 percent tax on the cryptocurrencies will be chargeable at the receivers end, which means the sender of digital currency will not have to pay any tax. But the receiver of the currency will be liable to pay the newly proposed 30 percent tax. While in trading in these digital currencies, there will be no tax on purchasing but selling off coins will be taxable at 30 percent.

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Crypto traders seemed happy with the newly proposed crypto tax policy yesterday. However, crypto legalization bill is what they are waiting for. On the other hand, there was a little surge in values of the crypto coins. However, there was a significant fall in price today.

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Hardly six months after bagging a whopping $1.25 billion investment in funding, leading online food ordering platform based in India Swiggy raises funding one more time in Series K round of funding. Swiggy has freshly procured $700 million in a Series K financing round as the Indian food tech giant is proactively looking forwards to expanding its business operations. Apart from India, Swiggy has already rolled out its services in South Asian markets. 

An insider having direct knowledge of the matter revealed that Invesco managed the Series K investment round, which increased the market capitalization of Swiggy to $10.7 billion. Previously, during the Initial Public Offering (IPO) in July, the food-tech company was valued at $5.5 billion. 

The market capitalization value of the food tech giant crosses Zomato’s existing market value as Swiggy raises funding in the Series K round. It is important to note here that Zomato, a 13 years old company, is witnessing a slump in its share price, which has brought down Zomato’s market value below $10 billion.

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Swiggy’s Round K funding saw participation from Axis Growth Capital, Sixteenth Street Capital, Kotak, Sumeru Ventures, Baron Capital Group, IIFL AMC Late Stake Tech Fund, Segantii Capital, Ghisallo and Smile Group. Existing investors of Swiggy also participated in the funding round, which included Alpha Wave Global, Qatar Investment Authority, ARK Impact and Prosus Ventures.

Swiggy’s quick delivery service, Instamart, is on track to hit a $1 billion annual gross merchandise volume run rate in the coming three quarters, the food-tech firm believes.

Swiggy, India’s leading food ordering platform giving tough competition to Zomato,  had said last year that the firm wanted to spend $700 million to upgrade its services and geographic presence. After Swiggy raises funding, it seems the rivalry in the food delivery industry in India will witness stiff competition in grabbing market share.

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‘Invesco Developing Markets Fund, on a long term basis, is looking forward to investing in leading companies across the world that have long term structural development ability. Investment in Swiggy is one such kind of investment.’ Said Justin Leverenz, Chief Investment Officer at Invesco.

Majety’s Words After Swiggy Raises Funding

Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy co-founder and chief executive, said that Instamart had achieved a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in only 17 months, while the core food delivery company required 40 months to accomplish the same level of success.

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The ultimate goal of Swiggy is to make 100 million users at least use Swiggy 15 times a month. The completion of this goal will help Swiggy’s ecosystem to have a broader influence and bring revolution in the food and grocery delivery industry. For that, the food tech company will continue to invest in our partners and products.’ Sriharsha Majety added further.

The Indian food services sector will stand at a value of $97 billion by the end of 2026. Organized food service is increasing at a higher rate compared to the other industries, and it is anticipated to have a 55 per cent market share by 2025. By the end of 2025, we predict internet access to hit 20% and the market size to achieve $20 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 46 per cent (CAGR). Acquisition of new customers as well as expanding into new and emerging areas will comprise the major of the company’s development.

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