Red flags for a Zomato-Blinkit deal + worried Air India staff
Zomato investors need to keep an eye on potential conflicts of interest; the Tatas face a tough industrial relations test at the airline
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Editor's note: Harveen here. Acquisitions and investments as a core corporate strategy are fine, but when personal and business conflicts aren’t adequately addressed, investors might be left with the short end of the stick. Like in the case of the expected Zomato-Blinkit merger. Separately, the Air India deal is beginning to look like the toughest test in industrial relations for the Tatas, who otherwise have a rich legacy of being good employers. Something happened this week. Read on. The problems of Zomato and Blinkit It seems that Zomato and Blinkit (earlier Grofers) are finally a step closer to their long speculated marriage. In a stock exchange filing earlier this week, the food delivery company said that it is lending up to $150 million (over Rs 1,100 crore) to Blinkit. The loan is supposed to “support the capital requirements” of the online grocery startup “in the near term”. It is fairly obvious that this loan is a precursor to the merger of the two companies. Since the merger will take time to execute and Blinkit’s 10-minute delivery business consumes cash rapidly, the loan …
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