Info Edge India Ltd saw its market value erode by about Rs 2,600 crore ($360 million) after a news report said Zomato, the food-delivery unicorn the Naukri-com owner is invested in, fired more than 500 employees.
Zomato Media Pvt Ltd, in which Info Edge holds a 26.38 per cent stake, laid off 541 people on September 7, a news report said on Sunday. Info Edge shares have since fallen 10 per cent as investors saw the layoffs as a sign the slowdown in consumption is spreading.
“This adds to the growing noise about a slowdown affecting revenue of consumer companies,” said Purvesh Shelatkar, Head of Institutional Brokering at Monarch Networth Capital Ltd in Mumbai. “News about layoffs is an overhang on the stock now.”
Unlisted Zomato clocked a revenue of Rs 1,310 crore in the year ended March 2019, a near three-fold jump from a year ago, according to the recent annual report of Info Edge. The company posted a loss of Rs 1,000 crore, up about 10-fold from 2018.
The Info Edge stock ended 4.87 per cent down at Rs 1,864.55 on the BSE.
