 "Weekend Bites: IT isn't hot, Taxes, Trade, Musk, and Netflix Chronicles")
As the summer sets in amid predictions of unusually high temperatures, the IT results season is upon us. However, both TCS as well as Infosys have made us break out in a cold sweat.
On a warmer note, 14 April 2023 — yesterday — was 25 years to the day Netflix opened for business. The Bites brings you co-founder Marc Randolph's recounting of its dramatic story.
In between, you would realise we had a lot to munch over, including a tech event of our own in Bengaluru.
Tuck in!
Story of the week: IT's lukewarm out there
Infosys said it was hobbled by a dip in deals. But what spooked the markets was its revenue growth guidance for 2023-24, much lower than what it achieved in the financial year that ended last month. "…the environment remains uncertain," said Salil Parekh, the Infosys chief.
TCS, India's largest software services company, does not give Infy-like guidance. What it does give is commentary, which did nothing to lift the spirits. The company had expected a turnaround in North America, its largest market, during January-March this year. That does not seem to have materialised.
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That's not all. K Krithivasan will take over as the CEO of TCS from June 1. When he was appointed the CEO-designate on March 16, the company had said Rajesh Gopinathan, the incumbent, would continue with the firm till September 15 to ensure a smooth transition.
As we watch how Gopinathan's role changes after June 1, Weekend Bites cannot help wondering whether the entire story of TCS' change of guard has been told yet.
In other news…
Bengaluru could overtake Delhi to become the second-highest contributor, after Mumbai, to the country's direct taxes, an internal analysis of the Income-Tax Department showed.
Outbound shipments from India saw their sharpest contraction in nearly three years in March, declining 13.9 per cent compared to the same month last year.
India Meteorological Department, the state-run official weather agency, predicted "normal" rains during this year's monsoon season — June to September — in spite of the anticipated El Nino conditions. The forecast came a day after Skymet, the private weather agency, said there would be a "below-normal" monsoon this year due to El Nino — the warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean near South America that weakens monsoon winds.
The government is raising its regulation of influencers up a notch. The plan is to make it mandatory for influencers promoting brands and products related to healthcare and wellness, a burgeoning category, to disclose their qualifications.
India will spend $200 million to develop an artificial intelligence ecosystem that will make e-governance platforms more accessible, said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, at the Business Standard TechTalk in Bengaluru.
Tech that: Word from the world of technology and start-ups
Elon Musk does draw the line somewhere. He says he would comply with the law of the land in India rather than send his people to jail. Meantime, Twitter said it had merged with an everything app called 'X', owned by Musk. The social media platform also introduced a feature that allows posts with 10,000 characters for paid Blue subscribers.
Amazon Inc is joining Microsoft and Google in the generative artificial intelligence race, announcing technology aimed at its cloud customers as well as a marketplace for AI tools from other companies.
Watch it: From our hot audio-visual serving
How large is India's tiger economy? Wait, is there really such a thing? Well, 50 years since Project Tiger began, India has more than 3,167 tigers –- 75 per cent of all the world's tigers in the wild -- in 53 tiger reserves. A 2019 study, which covered ten reserves, said they generated benefits worth Rs 350 to Rs 7500 for every rupee spent on them. If you want more sightings, click The Morning Show.
What is Suveen obsessing over these days?
Yesterday, April 14, 2023, was 25 years to the day Netflix opened for business as a DVD-rental-by-mail business with a no-late-fee and no-due-date model. The model became popular and found legions of customers. But, two years later, the dotcom bubble burst, and Netflix found itself on the brink.
It tried to sell itself to Blockbuster for $50 million, but, as Marc Randolph, who co-founded the company with Reed Hastings, wrote on Twitter in his Netflix Chronicles, "They laughed us out of the room."
Blockbuster ruled the video rental market back then, with 60,000 stores. It is left with one now. Netflix, which Blockbuster could have bought for $50 million, is worth $150 billion in market capitalisation, which is the combined value of a company's shares based on the current market price.
How did Randolph and Hastings come up with the idea?
There was no epiphany, no moment of divine inspiration, no flash of lightning. Randolph and Hastings toyed with a range of ideas, from personalised shampoo and customised baseball bats to customised dog food. "Twenty-five years ago, I had no idea what would work and what wouldn't," says Randolph.
Now, he is certain about two things. One, for every good idea, there are a thousand bad ones. And two, if you are unwilling to disrupt your business, someone else will.
So there! The last Weekend Bites served you litti-chokha for thought. This week it is dog food — customised and all. Let's see what we can dish out next Saturday.
This is Suveen signing off. Please send comments, news, or views about anything — from fearful billionaires to wary influencers — to suveen.sinha@bsmail.in.