The Morning Context

OYO’s proposed acquisition of G6 Hospitality is being read by many as some sort of celebratory vindication for OYO in acquiring an iconic American brand. It is a juiced-out franchise business, great to dress up the balance sheet, not as fun to grow. https://lnkd.in/e7A-mAec

The RBI, on Thursday, barred Navi, DMI Finance, plus two other NBFCs from sanctioning and disbursing loans. It has blamed the four companies of ‘usurious pricing’ and not adhering to regulatory guidances. Sethu Pradeep writes: https://lnkd.in/dYUT4ywS

Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson—this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics laureates—their work sheds light on the lasting effects of colonialism on the economy, a problematic period from which India has yet to truly recover. Maanav D J explores the laureates’ polarizing work, criticisms of its Eurocentrism, and the Indian perspective: https://lnkd.in/dSCYwFjw

The chorus surrounding OYO’s turnaround is growing louder—and for good reason. The budget hotel operator is reportedly seeking to raise $200 million at a valuation of $4.5 billion or more, has acquired US-based G6 Hospitality in an all-cash deal, and raised $175 million in equity funding, among other moves. It’s been a busy few weeks, marking what seems like a successful phase for the company. Ashish K Mishra delves into the details and takes a closer look at OYO’s 'turnaround.' https://lnkd.in/djXWk8Um

The lead today: What's behind OYO's turnaround story? In story 2, find out why this year's Nobel Prize in Economics is important in context of India's colonial past. themorningcontext.com/

#ICYMI Our lead story today is all about the leap.club’s pivot from being a full-stack online professional network for women. Story No. 2: Why the Wordpress saga is raising doubts about its dependability. themorningcontext.com/

Amazon announced that it has signed three agreements to develop nuclear power technology called small modular reactors on Wednesday, just two days after Google announced a similar deal. The global giant is the latest big tech company to tap into nuclear power technology to meet the growing electricity demand of its data centers. Disha Acharya writes: https://lnkd.in/dbFvJcn8

Tomorrow.

Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of Wordpress is accused of having crossed a line that has angered developers who have been contributing to the Wordpress library for years. This free and open-source content management system is estimated to power nearly 42.9% of all websites on the internet. Wordpress.org, the non-profit organisation that owns it, and Mullenweg have taken over ACF, a popular Wordpress plugin, to “remove commercial upsells and fix a security problem.” Sethu Pradeep gets into details of the security issue that prompted the takeover of ACF to explain what is happening and how it got here. https://lnkd.in/didHhcDV

Leap.club was founded in 2020 with the idea of offering a platform where women help women rise up the corporate ladder. Four years later, the startup has seemingly pivoted from its online avatar to an offline offline one, by opening up a physical club in Bandra, Mumbai. The plan is to open more than 10 such clubs across the country. Harveen Ahluwalia’s story today is all about leap.club moving away from the idea of becoming a full-stack online professional network. https://lnkd.in/dVsS3_n7