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HT Media's internet arm has acquired Desimartini.com, a Delhi-based social networking website, reports the company's own newspaper Mint.
HT Media's newly formed internet subsidiary Firefly eVentures Ltd has made the acquisition, which according to the newspaper, is for less than $10 million (can be anything from $100K-10 million). The official numbers have not been disclosed. Interestingly, HT Media has not informed the stock exchanges about the acquisition.
Desimartini.com was launched late last year by Pahwa Knowledge Based Services, part of the Delhi-based Pahwa Group (they own Bry-Air, manufacturers of dehumidifiers and plastic dryers). This will be the first instance of consolidation in the heavily crowded social networking space. The report claims a user base of 250,000 and 2.5 million page views a month for the portal. If that is true, that is a very good number. Alexa, the internet traffic measurement tool, which we think is not perfect and can be doctored, shows that Desimartini ranks lowest among the Indian SN sites. See the image above. (Ed: Why didn't HT think of launching its own SN site since none of the desi sites have gained significant traction?). Since launching a new site will not take much money, the under $10 million price tag for DM looks very suspect.
“Everything is becoming localised and as broadband penetration improves, we see phenomenal opportunity and growth in the Internet in India. This acquisition in the social networking space is the first step towards expanding our Internet base. We are exploring other new online businesses such as gaming, e-commerce and classifieds,” Amit Garg, business head, Internet, HT Media, told Mint. HT Media also has plans to launch online portals in jobs, matrimonials, real estate and auto verticals.
Indian market has several social networking sites. Google’s Orkut is a clear leader, followed by others like BigAdda.com, Minglebox.com, Ibibo.com, and Indyarocks.com.