MC Insider: A shawarma index, a 'cheap' B-town buy and Basavaraj Bommai's predicament

The market has been tough, to say the least, in the last few months. Traders have gasped for good opportunities to trade in the market. Inasmuch, even independent research analysts who are empanelled by various brokers to provide daily trades to their clients are finding it difficult to fulfil the quota. One such analyst said trading has dried up in the market and his earnings could take a hit if it sustains (as he gets paid for the number of trades he recommends in a day). He added that, thanks to the unforgiving market, the performance (win rate of the trade) has also worsened, making it hard to renegotiate payout sense.

Brands are advertising less. It was most apparent in the meetings of one of the largest media agencies. An insider tells us that the agency’s meetings used to be held in luxury hotels, where they were served many-course meals and drinks. This time, the meeting across centres were either held in offices or in a hotel where they were served shawarma, which is essentially a wrap/roll. Like the lipstick index, that gauges economic hardship by tracking people splurging on affordable luxury, maybe we need a shawarma index. It would gauge hardship in the business through money spent on employee meets!

Private-market investors aren’t so free with their money anymore. One of the startups called a client, which is an advertising agency, and made a request. The startup said that an investor will be making calls to check on the startup’s business prospects. The agency’s exec was surprised. They have worked with various startups over the last few years, but none of their investors had called to do viability checks, and this was just a small startup. That is when another startup founder explained, “Money is becoming hard to get. Now investors are doing their due diligence.”

Real estate stocks are back in action. The realty index gained over 8 percent last week. And this makes it an opportune time for a real estate IPO. This company had filed its papers year and was planning to launch the public offering end of 2022. But, market conditions kept worsening. Grey market dealers tell us that the company is now in talks with anchors and QIBs. We wonder if it will finally hit the bourses or will it have to refile its papers.

Talking of real estate, the acquisition of this iconic showman’s bungalow by a large conglomerate made all the headlines a few days back. The deal value was not disclosed. We hear that of the several acquisitions made by the group in recent times, this transaction was actually the cheapest. “Just because of the Bollywood connect, it received the attention that it did” chuckled some company insiders at a soiree.

Rumours are that a fintech player asked an ad network, that they are closely associated with, for an interesting deal. The deal, we hear, is to invest on the platform and bring in a certain percentage of advertising revenue for the fintech. The ad network didn’t commit to any such request. Taking advantage of the situation, a rival ad network has sealed the deal, said an insider. Business shuffles happen often in the advertising business. However, it looks like these days certain marketers have too many requests beyond the usual performance indicators.

Corporate head honchos and startup founders have all sorts of ambitions these days. They are reality TV stars, creators, celebrity authors and influencers on social media, devoting more and more time to cultivate their personal brands. Or, to be precise, now paying agencies to build their personal brands and create inspirational content. We hear one CXO even fancies himself a Steve Jobs of his industry (in this case, auto). Another has proclaimed he is not a celebrity founder and has no such ambitions, in a recent interview, but his close associates tend to disagree. They tell us there are divas in every industry. The latter used his skills of persuasion and clout to bring a particular creative to work on his campaign and, despite the reluctance of the team, they did.

There is buzz in political corridors down south that Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai is facing an excruciating situation ahead of the most important Assembly elections. Looks like the incumbent CM is not officially the CM candidate of the BJP and so far there are vague answers about his role. BS Yediyurappa, the sidelined predecessor of Bommai, is back in action and none other than PM Modi has indicated that BSY will lead the party in the election. But, interestingly , the party has ruled out the possibility of BSY returning as the CM again. Even if the BJP wins, there is no certainty that Bommai will continue as the CM. Because of this, a little birdie tells us that no BJP MLAs or candidates are approaching Bommai for party tickets and requesting him to campaign for them. BSY’s house has a bigger crowd everyday.

It is like, after a captain is forced to retire, he is back as the chief coach in cricket. And the Coach is asked to lead the team in the final match and the captain is sidelined!