Top headlines: Unacademy CEO sends an SOS; govt calls off BPCL divestment

Business Standard brings you the top headlines on Thursday

Funding may dry up for next 12-18 months: Unacademy CEO tells employees

Unacademy may see a funding dry spell for at least next 12-18 months and even last till 24 months and will cut costs to weather the lean period, said the chief executive of the education technology unicorn that recently laid off more than 600 employees.

“This is a test for all of us. We must learn to work under constraints and focus on profitability at all costs. We must survive the winter,” said Unacademy's co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal in a letter to the employees. Read more

Chipmaker Broadcom to buy cloud services firm VMware in $61-bn deal

Chipmaker Broadcom Inc is buying cloud services provider VMware Inc in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $61 billion to speed up its expansion into the enterprise software business.

The purchase announced on Thursday is the second-biggest globally so far in 2022, after Microsoft Corp's $68.7 billion buyout of video game maker Activision Blizzard Inc. Read more

Govt to take action against fake reviews on e-commerce platforms

The consumer affairs ministry along with Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) will hold a virtual meeting on Friday with stakeholders including e-commerce entities to discuss the magnitude of fake reviews on their platforms, which mislead consumers into buying online products and services.

The purpose of the meeting is to prepare a road map ahead. The discussions will be broadly based on the impact of fake and misleading reviews on consumers and possible measures to prevent such anomaly, the ministry said in a statement. Read more

Govt withdraws offer to sell its entire 53% stake in BPCL

Government on Thursday formally cancelled the present privatisation process of BPCL as majority of bidders expressed inability to participate in the privatisation. Decision on re-initiation of the strategic disinvestment process will be taken in due course post review, said Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

The government had planned to sell its entire 53 per cent stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and invited Expression of Interest from bidders in March 2020. At least three bids came in by November 2020 but only one remains now after the others withdrew from the race, PTI reported last week. Read more