First it was Anything.lk been acquired by Dialog, on 10th Dec 2012 - Dialog buys 26% of anything.lk
Then few hours back, a rumor mills around Groupon, that it might be bought in by Google. And the CEO of Groupon refuses to comment.
This post from Nov 2011, provides context on why daily deals startups like Groupon starts nicely and then slows down - Groupon shares continue to free fall.
2 reasons put forward: Was it the ill timed IPO, or fundamental error in business model? For further insight, play 5 minute video below.
3 comments:
Nadeera had commented the following, but I messed it up by deleting it, trying to curate it :)
" It was a wise move by Anything.lk to diversify the daily deals business with the store - so they arent at the same risk faced by Groupon... "
So here's the reply:
Good point. Even though I see the following impediment. The core business model of daily deals is loosing popularity from supply as well as demand side. The reasons spelled in above video, is evident in Sri Lankan context too. yet Sri Lanka is yet to mature in daily deals. Dialog buy in, makes thing really interesting....
There are many synergies between Dialog ( i buy, trades net etc) and Anything.lk. Dialog will bring much needed branding element to the table and nearly 7 mn subscriber base whom they can make use of. Further, there are many opportunities and mobile advertisement front where dialog can mine data they already have on subscriber and tailor made the offering.
But fundamentally, Rs. 200mn for 26% stake for this is too much of a premium in my opinion.
Very good points for the positive. It all depends on Dialog strategy. Whether they fold in all their online trading / mobile platforms or a decent combo of it. Time would tell. Interesting times in SL landscape.
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