Zomato is in talks with Paytm to acquire its movies and events business

Zomato said in a regulatory filing that it is in talks with Paytm to acquire its movies and events business. While Zomato is in discussions with Paytm, no binding decision has been taken yet that would warrant a board approval and subsequent disclosure in accordance with applicable law. In a separate filing, Paytm also confirmed ongoing discussions but did not specifically name Zomato.

Zomato is trying to regain the lost ground by doubling down its focus on payments, and adopting a distribution-first approach for financial services. As such, the company is focusing on its larger businesses that can grow and become profitable at scale.

As per sources, Paytm wants to focus on scalable commerce. The company’s focus will continue to be on digital goods commerce so segments like deals, gift vouchers, and travel, which help its merchants to scale their business and boost overall sales. With this deal, the company now does not have any “non-core” businesses.

Paytm said it will steer away from non-core operations and focus on trimming its employee costs.

To achieve this, the firm is reviewing its decision to continue non-core operations such as cross border business and software as a service (SaaS) to banks, among others.

If the cost structure of overall engineering and technology is noticed then it has been larger than what a pure payment company would have had.