Deals Roundup: New Appointment at Snapdeal and More Updates

Uber Technologies Inc.Marketing expert Leaves Job
The ride sharing has been thrust deeper into turmoil with the departure of company president Jeff Jones, a marketing expert hired to help soften its often abrasive image. Jones quit less than seven months after joining the San Francisco company.

The reason for his departure was not immediately clear, but Jones' role was put into question after Uber earlier this month launched a search for a chief operating officer to help run the company alongside Chief Executive Travis Kalanick. Jones had been performing some of those COO responsibilities. He joined Uber from Target Corp, where he was chief marketing officer and is credited with modernizing the retailer's brand.

New Appointment at Snapdeal
Snapdeal named Jason Kothari as the new CEO of its digital payments platform, FreeCharge, a little less than a month after former CEO Govind Rajan quit the company.

According to an official statement from the company, Kothari, who joined Snapdeal in January earlier this year, from online real estate portal Housing.com, will, however, continue to be chief strategy and investment officer at Snapdeal. He will also join the FreeCharge Board.

Vodafone -Idea Merger Deal Sealed
Vodafone Group Plc’s India unit and Aditya Birla Group company Idea Cellular Ltd have agreed to merge in a transaction that will create the country’s biggest telecom operator. The merged company will be in a better position to take on current top carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd and the fast-growing Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.

Vodafone will initially own 45.1% of the combined company after transferring a stake of 4.9% to the Aditya Birla Group for Rs 3,900 ($579 million) in cash. The Aditya Birla Group will then own 26% and has the right to acquire more shares from Vodafone to equalise their holdings.

If Vodafone and the Aditya Birla Group’s shareholdings in the combined company are not equal after four years, Vodafone will sell shares in the combined company to equalise its shareholding to that of the Aditya Birla Group over the following five-year period.

The merger will also enable Vodafone to list its India operations on the stock exchanges as Idea is already publicly traded.

Cognizant To Fire More than 6,000 Employees this Year
The IT firm is expected to fire more than 6,000 employees as part of its regular appraisal cycle this year. Media reports have suggested as many as 10,000 could be let go though it has been specified that this is part of Cognizant's normal appraisal process.

In a typical year, Cognizant generally lets go of 2-3% of its workforce, who are under-performers. Cognizant has over 265000 employees.

India Cabinet Clears Draft GST Bills
India's cabinet has approved five bills to implement a planned Goods and Services Tax (GST) bills, a government official said on Monday, paving the way for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement the landmark tax reform from July.

The bills are likely to be taken up by the parliament this week, and in state assemblies later as Modi rushes to roll out the new law, after years of delays.
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Soumya Gupta

BW Reporters Soumya is a young writer and journalist, with bachelors in Multimedia and Mass Communication. She is an alumini of the Asian College of Journalism, and finds politics and sustainability intriguing beats to work with.

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