Zomato to shut down US table reservation business

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Online food delivery and restaurant discovery company Zomato on August 11 said it has divested its stake in step-down subsidiary Nextable Inc for $1,00,000.

"Given the small overall size of the business of the table reservation and management in USA, company has decided to divest and consequently shut down this business in USA," the company said in a stock exchange filing.

Zomato had disclosed in its red herring prospectus that it was in the process of divesting its entire shareholding in Nextable.

The turnover and net worth of Nextable as on March 31, 2021, was Rs 6.65 crore and Rs 1.53 crore, respectively.

Further, it contributed 0.33 percent towards the consolidated turnover and 0.02 percent towards the consolidated net worth of Zomato.

Zomato had acquired the US-based restaurant reservations and table management platform in 2015 in a cash and stock deal. The company competed with the likes of OpenTable and Yelp's SeatMe.

This happens at a time when dining in hasn't gathered pace as compared to order delivery post the pandemic across the world.

Zomato which got listed last month also reported a net loss of Rs 356 crore during the quarter ended June 30, 2021, against Rs 99.8 crore during the like period of the previous financial year.

The total income of the company stood at Rs 916 crore during the quarter under review. This was a massive jump from a revenue of Rs 283.5 crore it reported in the year-ago period.

According to the company, the revenue growth was largely on the back of growth in its core food delivery business which continued to grow despite the severe COVID wave starting April.

On the other hand, COVID significantly impacted the dining-out business during the quarter, reversing most of the gains the industry made during the quarter ending March.