Times Internet

Times Internet is an Indian multinational technology company, headquartered in Gurgaon, which owns, operates and invests in various internet-led products, services and technology. It is the digital arm of The Times Group, the largest media conglomerate in India.^[1] Times Internet currently owns and operates digital products across news, entertainment and classifieds.

Times Internet

Company type	Private
Industry	Technology
Founded	1999; 25 years ago (1999)
Headquarters	Gurgaon, India
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Satyan Gajwani (vice chairman) Puneet Gupt (COO)
Products	Cricbuzz MagicBricks Willow TV
Services	Entertainment Lifestyle Sport News
Parent	The Times Group
Subsidiaries	See below
Website	www.timesinternet.in

Through its venture capital arm TVentures, Times Internet has invested in over 50 start-ups in the technology space such as logistics provider Delhivery, bus aggregating platform Shuttl, ed-tech platform Byju's, and gaming platform MPL, among others.

History

1999–2011: Initial years

In its initial years, Times Internet primarily focused on digital media—handling the online versions of The Times Group which is owned by Sahu Jain family. Some major print publications includes The Times of India, The Economic Times and Navbharat Times.^[2]

Times Internet ventured into multiple new categories with mixed success. It entered social networking and e-commerce with Indiatimes but was unable to scale the business.^[3] The company achieved success with MagicBricks, an online real estate platform launched in 2006 and iDiva, a women's lifestyle portal in 2009.^[4][5]

2012–2019: Investments

Times Internet made a series of acquisitions—buying majority stakes in MensXP in 2012,^[6] Cricbuzz, Coupondunia and Dineout in 2014,^[7][8][9] Taskbucks in 2015,^[10] 'The Viral Shots' and WillowTV in 2016. In 2016, it also forged a strategic alliance with Haptik, an AI-enabled chatbot service.^[11] The company launched its startup accelerator, TLabs in 2012 through which it invested in upcoming digital startups like Delhivery, Pratilipi etc.

Times Internet launched new digital products—Happy Trips in 2014,^[12] ET Money and NewsPoint in 2015.^[13] In 2015, Times Internet launched Samayam, a website that provides news in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam languages.^[14] In association with HDFC Bank, it launched 'Times Points HDFC Bank Debit Card', an exclusive co-branded debit card in 2016.^[15] It also ventured into video streaming with Box TV Limited in 2012 but shut it down in 2016.^[16]

In 2016, Times Internet built Colombia, an ad-tech network.^[17]

Times Internet launched ET Insure in February 2017,^[18] BrainBaazi in February 2018, and ET Prime in April 2018. It acquired 'House of God' in December 2017^[19] and partnered with Tencent to invest $115 million in Gaana in February 2018.^[20]

On 28 June 2018, Times Internet acquired MX Player, the world's largest video player for $140 million.^[21] On 20 February 2019, Times Internet re-launched MX Player as a platform streaming movies, TV and web shows.^[22]

On 24 April 2019, Times Internet participated as a lead investor in $35.5 million (Rs 2.50 billion) Series-A funding round of Mobile Premier League (MPL).^[23]

2020–present: Divestments

In 2022, Times Internet sold its short video app MX Takatak to ShareChat for around $700 million in a cash-and-stock transaction.^[24] This was followed by the sale of table reservation platform Dineout to Swiggy in an all-stock deal valued at $120 million.^[25] Later that year, it sold MensXP, iDiva and Hypp to e-commerce rollup company Mensa Brands for an undisclosed amount.^[26]

In 2023, after failing to find a buyer, the music streaming service Gaana was consolidated with another Times Group company Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) for a consideration of ₹25 lakh.^[27]

In 2024, Times Internet sold MX Player to Amazon for around $100 million^[28] and ET Money to 360 One WAM for ₹366 crore in stock swap and cash.^[29]

Subsidiaries and products

List of digital products owned and managed by Times Internet as of May 2019.^[30]

Product	Description	Note
Ahmedabad Mirror	News portal focused on Ahmedabad
Bangalore Mirror	News portal focused on Bengaluru
Ei Samay	News portal in Bengali
The Economic Times (ET)	Business and financial news platform
ETimes	Entertainment news portal
Indiatimes	News and infotainment platform
Maharashtra Times	News portal in Marathi
Miss Kyra	Entertainment, lifestyle, and fashion news portal
Navbharat Times	News portal in Hindi
NavGujarat Samay	News portal in Gujarati
NewsPoint	News aggregation portal
Pune Mirror	News portal focused on Pune
The Times of India (TOI)	News portal in English
Vijaya Karnataka	News portal in Kannada
Samayam	Infotainment and News portal in Malayalam, Telugu, and Tamil
Astrospeak	Astrology and horoscope service
TimesProperty	News portal for real estate industry
BaaziNow	Live video and gaming platform
CouponDunia	Deals discovery platform
Cricbuzz	Cricket infotainment platform
CricPlay	Cricket Fantasy App	Defunct
Databack	Data savings service
Dineout	Table reservation service	Acquired by Swiggy
ET Money	Personal money management service	Acquired by 360 One WAM
Gaana	Music streaming platform	Acquired by ENIL
MX Player	Video player and streaming platform	Acquired by Amazon
Get Me a Shop	Offline to online eCommerce service
Happy Trips	Travel guide and information portal
iDiva	Women's lifestyle portal	Acquired by Mensa Brands
MagicBricks	Real estate listings and information portal
MensXP	Men's lifestyle portal	Acquired by Mensa Brands
Speaking Tree	Spirituality platform and network
Taskbucks	Reward based discovery platform
TechGig	Technology platform and community
Times Card	Lifestyle focused credit cards
Times Jobs	Jobs listings portal
Times Now	A TV news channel operates in India
Times Prime	Digital subscriptions platform
Whats Hot	Local guide to your city
Willow	TV channel focused on cricket broadcast
Times XP Hindi	Platform for Hindi news

References

1. "Biggest names in music rock Gaana show". India Post. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
2. "Times Internet's Gautam Sinha On Turning A Legacy Media Company into A Conglomerate Of 37 Digital Startups – Inc42 Media". Inc42 Media. 26 December 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
3. "Times Internet Scaling Down E-commerce Operations".
4. "Magicbricks.com awarded the best online realty portal". Retrieved 18 May 2018.
5. "iDiva.com wins 2 million hearts in 6 months". The Economic Times. 19 June 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
6. "Times Internet acquires men's lifestyle portal MensXP". The Economic Times. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
7. "Times Internet acquires Cricbuzz". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
8. "Tech in Asia – Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
9. indiainfoline.com. "Times Internet acquires majority stake in Coupondunia". Retrieved 18 May 2018.
10. "Times Internet acquires majority stake in Taskbucks for $15M". VCCircle. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
11. "Haptik, an India-based mobile concierge service, raises $11.2M from Times Internet – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
12. "Times Internet launches travel portal, HappyTrips.com". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
13. "ET Money's big billion feat". The Economic Times. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
14. "Times Internet launches Samayam – digital news & infotainment brand in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam – Exchange4media". Exchange4media. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
15. indiainfoline.com. "Times Internet associates with HDFC Bank to launch 'Times Points HDFC Bank Debit Card'". Retrieved 31 May 2018.
16. "Times Internet acquires MX Player. For $200 million – The Ken". The Ken. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
17. "Times Internet's Gautam Sinha On Turning A Legacy Media Company into A Conglomerate Of 37 Digital Startups – Inc42 Media". Inc42 Media. 26 December 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
18. "Times Internet launches ETinsure.com to simplifyinsurance buying, claims". The Economic Times. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
19. "Times Internet Acquires Spiritual Content Startup House Of God; Enters The Country's $40 Bn Religious Market". Inc42 Media. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
20. "Tencent Is Said to Lead $115 Million Deal in India's Gaana". Bloomberg.com. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
21. "India's Times Internet buys popular video app MX Player for $140M to get into streaming – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
22. "Times Internet to launch new avatar of MX Player on February 20". www.afaqs.com. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
23. www.ETtech.com. "MPL secures Rs 250 cr from Go-Jek arm, Sequoia India & Times Internet – ETtech". ETtech.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
24. Kalra, Aditya; Shah, Aditi (10 February 2022). "India's ShareChat buys rival MX's short-video app in $700 mln deal, sources say". Reuters. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
25. "Swiggy buys Dineout from Times Internet in $120 million all-stock deal". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
26. "Mensa acquires MensXP, iDiva, and Hypp brands from Times Internet". BusinessLine. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
27. "Radio Mirchi's parent acquires Gaana for Rs 25 lakh". Financial Express. 10 August 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
28. Singh, Manish (6 June 2024). "Amazon buys Indian video streaming service MX Player". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
29. "360 ONE WAM to acquire ET MONEY in strategic move to strengthen wealth management services". Moneycontrol. 12 June 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
30. "Times Internet: Everything. Everyday". timesinternet.in. Retrieved 9 May 2019.

External links

• Official website