MC Tech3 | Sony ends $10B merger deal with Zee; Exodus continues at Udaan; and more

One quick thing: The who’s who of India Inc were present in Ayodhya today for the Ram Mandir ‘Pran Pratistha' (consecration) ceremony.

• Among the attendees include Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu, and Oyo Founder Ritesh Agarwal.

P.S. You can catch all the updates from the ceremony in our liveblog. 

Now, onto today's big news...

Today's top stories

• Sony Corp has terminated its $10-billion merger deal with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and has sought a $90 termination fee for alleged breaches of the agreement. ZEEL has denied these claims and said it will take necessary steps including taking legal action against Sony’s India unit. 
• "I believe this to be a sign from the Lord," said ZEEL CEO Punit Goenka, who was in Ayodhya today. After the Sony deal fell through, Goenka said that he would work towards strengthening the company for all its stakeholders. 
• Udaan CFO Aditya Pande has quit, marking the company’s third top exit in less than 6 months. Pande is going back to IndiGo parent Interglobe Enterprises as its Group CEO.
• Edtech firm Eruditus saw a 75% jump in its FY23 revenue to Rs 3,320 crore. Losses narrowed to Rs 1,049 crore.
• The Supreme Court will start hearing Google's plea against Rs 1,338-crore antitrust fine from April 30.
• Tech Mahindra has appointed former TCS chief marketing officer Rajashree R as its Chief Growth Officer for America strategic verticals. 
• Coforge’s consolidated net profit rose over 31% to Rs 238 crore in Q3 2024 from Rs 181 crore in Q2 2024. Revenue increased by almost 2 per cent sequentially to Rs 2,323 crore.
• Zensar Technologies reported a 110% YoY increase in net profit to Rs 161 crore in Q3 2024. Revenue was nearly flat at Rs 1,204 crore.

Moneycontrol @ Davos 2024

Last week was an action packed one at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Here's a quick recap of our recent newsletter editions and daily video bulletins that brought you key insights from top tech and corporate voices in India and across the world.

• India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on the country’s semiconductor playbook (Newsletter | Video)
• AI pioneer Andrew Ng's advice for startups; Swiggy CEO Harsha Majety takes lessons from Zomato IPO (Newsletter | Video)
• YouTube CEO Neal Mohan's plan to tackle deepfakes; IBM chief Arvind Krishna praises India’s AI vision (Newsletter | Video)
• PwC chief Bob Moritz on India's key to AI success; How Mohit Joshi plans to revamp Tech Mahindra (Newsletter | Video)
• Infosys CEO Salil Parekh on GenAI demand; Microsoft Asia’s Ahmed Mazhari on how India can be at the forefront of AI deployment (Newsletter | Video)

This is a short version of the MCTech3 newsletter. Sign up here to get the full edition in your inbox every evening on weekdays.