Paytm, the Indian ticketing and payments giant, is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire TicketNew from Chinese conglomerate Alibaba as it aims at strengthening its entertainment ticketing vertical.
The acquisition is likely to be completed next month, according to two people familiar with the development, the Economic Times reports.
TicketNew will be bought from Alibaba Pictures, with the new deal to be signed for around the same price as the original deal.
The people familiar with the deal said it could be worth anywhere between $30m and $40m, the Economic Times reports.
Alibaba Pictures bought a majority stake in TicketNew in June 2017, marking its first acquisition outside China in the internet ticketing industry.
The move highlights Paytm’s drive to expand its ticketing arm to compete with market leader BookMyShow.
Paytm acquired a majority stake in Insider.in, an online ticketing and events platform backed by event management company Only Much Louder (OML), for a little over Rs35crore in 2017.
In addition, Paytm last year sold over 52 million movie tickets, notching more than 500 per cent growth in volume of tickets sold since its launch in May 2016, the company said.
Paytm recently became the exclusive ticketing partner for several cricket teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Image: Paytm
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