Bullets

New York Times reported on Sunday that smartphone giant Samsung might switch search engine services from Google to Bing. Bing making headway in AI's direction with OpenAI is one of the reasons Google is losing favour as preferred search engine.

The switch could cost Google a whopping $3 billion, which is around 15% of its annual revenue from its deals with Samsung and Apple.

From the least favoured browser to toppling Google's corporate position, oh, how the tables have turned!

Trouble seems to be piling up for the Big Four accounting firm KPMG. After being sued in the SVB collapse, KPMG has been fined $231 million by a Dubai Court.

Breaching auditing standards, KPMG was found guilty of approving financial statements by Abraaj Group, a collapsed private equity firm. This, in turn, caused huge losses for a group of investors. 

False financial statements to allegations of nepotism, what else is KPMG hiding in its closet?

Breaking personal viewership records, Reliance's JioCinema is riding high on the fame wave. The first week of IPL saw JioCinema rack up 5.5 billion unique video views.

This wave might soon crash to the shore, though, as Reliance plans to start charging for its content on JioCinema. The tariffs are reportedly going to be applicable from the same time as the end of IPL.

A free-to-paid transition working for the SIMs does not mean it would work every time!

Due to the revised payment structure, delivery workers in Zomato-owned Blinkit have been on strike. It has resulted in the closing of more than 100 Blinkit stores in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Noida.

The revised structure would reduce workers' pay from Rs 25 per delivery to Rs 15 per delivery.

Looks like the “quick commerce” platform Blinkit can deliver in a blink, but the same courtesy doesn’t extend towards the pleas of its workforce.

Two Indian-origin executives of a US startup, Outcome Health, committed a fraud of over $1 Billion with COO Brad Purdy.

Former CEO & Co-founder Rishi Shah was found guilty on 19 out of 22 counts, whereas former president & co-founder Shradha Agarwal was convicted on 13 of 15 counts. Selling false advertising inventory led to the executives being charged with wire, mail, and bank fraud.

Deceiving investors & lenders might result in imprisonment of 30 years for these executives.

Meet Bedrock, Amazon's latest addition to the global AI race. With Bedrock, Amazon has taken a collaborative approach by not building the AI model themselves.

AI startups like AI21 Labs, Anthropic and Stability AI will be working on the AWS platform to provide pre-trained AI models that people can use to create AI-powered apps.

Amazon has not declared a pricing model for the platform, but judging from the customizability of the whole deal, the bill might be a long one.

To initiate a low-cost passive mutual fund business, India’s biggest stock brokerage firm Zerodha announces a joint venture with Smallcase. Zerodha’s CEO, Nithin Kamath, announced the news via a pleasing tweet.

Zerodha already received a thumbs up from SEBI (Securities and Exchange of India), in principle, to go ahead with its mutual fund application in 2021.

Too bad things didn’t turn out well for the prior acquisition plans between Smallcase and fintech Cred.

Japanese Tech investment group Softbank has decided to sell its holdings worth $7 billion in Jack Ma's Alibaba group through prepaid forward contracts that will give Softbank the option to buy these shares back.

The sale comes as a result of Softbank trying to "prioritize financial discipline" before it "goes on the offensive with investments", according to a report by Business Standard. Alibaba shares fell by 5.2%, eroding about $13 billion in market value.

After Twitter Inc. ceases to exist as a separate entity, Twitter’s Blue Ticks feature will end. Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk tweeted the removal of the legacy Blue Ticks from Twitter by 4/20. (Fly high, Bluebird!)

Twitter has been in buzz since Musk took charge. From changing the official logo to a meme to merging Twitter Inc. with a shell firm X Corp, the company never fails to amuse, much like Musk.    

What else should we be prepared for?

The onslaught of mass disfavour towards dairy giant Amul’s entry into Karnataka state led to the related officials breaking their silence. Amul’s Managing Director Jayen Mehta spoke about coexisting with Nandini, not competing with the local brand. 

After opposition leaders and Bruhat Bengaluru Hotel Association asked people to “boycott Amul and save Nandini,” a massive uproar against the dairy brand was noticed.

Will this declaration of cordiality level out Amul’s entrance, or are there more obstacles to be crossed?

VC and PE firms may be frantically exiting the Indian startup ecosystem, but Temasek has shown up like a room heater during this funding winter. The Singaporean investment firm has shown interest in increasing investments in India above the $1 billion it has already spent over six years.

The reasons behind this increased confidence are "strong fundamentals, solid foreign exchange reserves, ongoing good corporate earnings, and strong banks", according to Ravi Lambah, head of investment group at Temasek India.

The unfortunate debacle of Silicon Valley Bank has reached its auditors and underwriters. The Big Four auditing firm KPMG, and underwriters, namely Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, SVB CEO Greg Becker, and more, were sued by a group of SVB shareholders.

From concealing the magnitude of risks to misinterpreting the balance sheet, liquidity, and position in the market, many other accusations were included in the lawsuit. 

Looks like the blame game has finally begun!

Brookfield Corporation, a Canadian investment company, has created a landmark in the Indian clean energy scene by making the largest investment in clean energy in one go. Avaada Energy will be the recipient of the $1 billion Canadian investment.

Reportedly, $400 million has already been invested, with the remaining $600 million being invested based on production-based goals.

Hurray for green energy in India, but am I the only one thinking of all the Harry Potter jokes?!🧙‍♂️⚡

After being open for Reliance employees since mid-February, Tira, an omnichannel beauty platform, is now live for everyone. Along with the official website and app, Tira's flagship store of 4,300 sq. ft. opened its gate at Jio World Drive in Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai.

Tira contains tutorial videos, blogs, and virtual try-on features, along with makeup, skin, and hair care products.

With this launch, Reliance has levelled up the intense competition in India's beauty sector.

Delivery aggregator Dunzo is setting up to axe 300 employees from its workforce, undergoing a 30% reduction. It's noteworthy that CEO Kabeer Biswas had hinted at "organisational changes that would affect employees" to CNBC TV18.

🎵🎶🎵Another one bites the dust!🎵🎶🎵

Dunzo is also in the process of acquiring funding worth around $75 million through convertible notes. These funds will be raised from existing investors like Reliance and Google.

Convertible notes mean these lenders would become shareholders.

I smell strengthening monopolies!🤔

After moving its headquarters to India, PhonePe made its first big decision by launching a hyperlocal shopping app, Pincode. The app marks the Walmart-backed payments platform's first step in the e-commerce market.

This separate store would work towards connecting consumers with local shops and stores in grocery, electronics, food, pharma, and home decor categories.

As PhonePe prepares to target a massive piece of the e-commerce pie, this move sure seems like waging war against ex-acquirer Flipkart.

Johnson & Johnson has decided to pay $8.9 billion as a settlement for the baby powder litigation. According to the lawsuit filed against J&J, its baby powder caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma (a type of lung cancer).

The company will be paying the amount over 25 years but has not admitted to any of the accusations against it.

Must be nice being so cash rich that you can just pay your way out of litigations.

The classic Blue Bird Logo on Twitter was reduced to an “old photo” after being replaced by the Shiba Inu Dog Meme “Doge.” Twitter’s CEO Musk confirmed with a meme, where an officer is checking an ID with Blue Bird’s image, to which Doge replies, “That’s an old photo.”

Elon Musk also shared the conversation’s screenshot with another user, with the caption “As Promised.”

The biggest social meme platform is now represented by a meme, LOL! 😄

Google’s CFO Ruth Porat dropped the bomb of perks cut on employees via a “vitalizing” memo. Directing towards the wish to advance in AI, the company announced putting a stop to micro kitchens and free laundry services for the best.  

These benefits were one of the reasons that made Google offices alluring for many employees and applicants. 

Looks like AI has a lot of responsibility to uphold, from the world’s future to employees’ hunger.

The government is intent on setting off the green energy race with a bang, and the big boys look set to make the most of it. As many as 11 companies have been declared as the recipient of the second round of the Solar PLI Scheme.

A private entity, Shirdi Sai Electricals, received the highest outlay in this scheme, with ₹3,300 crore, followed by RIL, receiving an outlay of ₹3.098 crore.

Is it time to start placing bets? 🏇