The story
1999–2011: Initial years
In its initial years, Times Internet primarily focused on digital media—handling the online versions of The Times Group which is owned by Sahu Jain family. Some major print publications includes The Times of India, The Economic Times, Maharashtra Times and Navbharat Times.
Times Internet ventured into multiple new categories with mixed success. It entered social networking and e-commerce with Indiatimes but was unable to scale the business. The company achieved success with MagicBricks, an online real estate platform launched in 2006 and iDiva, a women's lifestyle portal in 2009.
2012–2019: Investments
Times Internet made a series of acquisitions—buying majority stakes in MensXP in 2012, Cricbuzz, Coupondunia and Dineout in 2014, Taskbucks in 2015, 'The Viral Shots' and WillowTV in 2016. In 2016, it also forged a strategic alliance with Haptik, an AI-enabled chatbot service. The company launched its startup accelerator, TLabs in 2012 through which it invested in upcoming digital startups like Delhivery, Pratilipi etc. Times Internet and Adstuck launched a joint venture Alive. Alive was an augmented reality browser to promote brands with print using augmented reality.
Times Internet launched new digital products—Happy Trips in 2014, ET Money and NewsPoint in 2015. In 2015, Times Internet launched Samayam, a website that provides news in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam languages. In association with HDFC Bank, it launched 'Times Points HDFC Bank Debit Card', an exclusive co-branded debit card in 2016. It also ventured into video streaming with Box TV Limited in 2012 but shut it down in 2016.
In 2016, Times Internet built Colombia, an ad-tech network.
Times Internet launched ET Insure in February 2017, BrainBaazi in February 2018, and ET Prime in April 2018. It acquired 'House of God' in December 2017 and partnered with Tencent to invest $115 million in Gaana in February 2018.
On 28 June 2018, Times Internet acquired MX Player, the world's largest video player for $140 million. On 20 February 2019, Times Internet re-launched MX Player as a platform streaming movies, TV and web shows.
On 24 April 2019, Times Internet participated as a lead investor in $35.5 million (Rs 2.50 billion) Series-A funding round of Mobile Premier League (MPL).
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2020–present: Divestments
In 2022, Times Internet sold its short video app MX Takatak to ShareChat for around $700 million in a cash-and-stock transaction. This was followed by the sale of table reservation platform Dineout to Swiggy in an all-stock deal valued at $120 million. Later that year, it sold MensXP, iDiva and Hypp to e-commerce rollup company Mensa Brands for an undisclosed amount.
In 2023, after failing to find a buyer, the music streaming service Gaana was consolidated with another Times Group company Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) for a consideration of ₹25 lakh.
In 2024, Times Internet sold MX Player to Amazon for around $100 million and ET Money to 360 One WAM for ₹366 crore in stock swap and cash.
From Wikipedia’s article on Times Internet, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5