MAM
Snapdeal.com looks at inorganic expansion
MUMBAI: Snapdeal.com has appointed Abhishek Kumar as its corporate development head. Kumar comes with a vast experience in venture capital investments, strategic partnerships, business management and M&A in technology and media businesses.
Kumar said, “I feel fortunate to be a part of the young, energetic and dynamic team at Snapdeal. The platform is a remarkable example of a successful home-grown e commerce brand in India. I am extremely thrilled and excited to be a part of this company and contribute to its development going forward.”
At Snapdeal, he will be responsible for acquisitions, investments and deep partnerships that can lead to mergers for the e-commerce giant. He will look at all avenues of inorganic expansion as Snapdeal moves towards the next phase on the back of heady organic growth over the last three years.
“This is a very exciting phase for the e-commerce industry and we are seeing tremendous opportunities of discontinuous growth in the market. We recognise that no company can do everything well by itself, and hence we would look forward to working closely with the burgeoning ecosystem of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in India to build deep partnerships. Abhishek with his rich and diverse experience in venture capital and business management brings the necessary skills to take Snapdeal into newer orbits of success through strategic partnerships.” said Snapdeal co-founder Kunal Bahl.
In his last assignment, Kumar was investments head at Palaash Ventures where he led the investment team in deploying early stage capital in consumer internet, SaaS, Ad-tech, hardware and e-commerce enablers. He was earlier with TV18 Broadcast, leading the new ventures function for the media group.
MAM
Netflix Q1 2026 earnings ad growth and content spending in focus
Streaming giant set to report results on Thursday after walking away from Warner Bros Discovery takeover.
MUMBAI: Netflix is about to hit play on its latest quarterly numbers and investors are hoping the plot thickens in all the right ways. The streaming leader reports its first-quarter 2026 earnings on Thursday, marking its first set of results since it walked away from a proposed takeover of Warner Bros Discovery. That failed bid would have handed Netflix prized franchises such as Game of Thrones and Friends on a silver platter, sparing the costly effort of building its own library. Instead, the company now faces tougher competition from a potential $110 billion Warner Bros-Paramount Skydance combination, should that deal close.
Analysts polled by LSEG expect Netflix to post a 15.5 per cent rise in revenue to $12.18 billion, with advertising contributing $634 million. The company raised US prices in March, a move some believe could prompt an upward revision to its full-year revenue forecast and nudge more subscribers towards the faster-growing ad-supported tier.
Netflix shares have climbed 13 per cent so far this year and are up roughly 26 per cent since the company stepped back from the $72 billion Warner Bros deal. With the merger drama behind it, the spotlight now shifts to how aggressively Netflix can expand its advertising business and live programming.
“We’re kind of entering another phase for the ad business, where they are becoming one of the largest scaled global advertising platforms,” said Gabelli Funds portfolio manager John Belton, which holds Netflix shares.
During the quarter, Netflix beefed up its live slate with a BTS concert streamed from Seoul that drew 18.4 million viewers worldwide and the 2026 World Baseball Classic, which became the most-streamed baseball game globally. Investors are watching for signals that the company will lean further into sports and other live events to fuel ad revenue growth.
The results come at a pivotal moment. Having dodged what could have been a debt-heavy acquisition, Netflix has the freedom and the cash to double down on its core strengths: original content spending and building a robust, scaled advertising platform. Whether the numbers deliver a binge-worthy performance or leave viewers wanting more, one thing is clear: the streaming wars are far from over, and Netflix is determined to keep its crown.
Expect plenty of drama when the figures drop after all, in the world of streaming, every quarter is its own cliffhanger.
