Times Internet is one of India’s most diversified digital brands, but it’s been looking to rationalize its portfolio in recent times.
Times Internet has sold ET Money to wealth management firm 360 One for $44 million (Rs. 370 crore). 360 One was formerly called IIFL Wealth Management, and focuses on managing the finances of ultra-high net worth individuals. The deal was disclosed in a stock exchange filing.
This is the latest step in the journey of ET Money, which had started off as Moneysights all the way back in 2009 as a platform that allowed customers to manage their investments. The company had been founded by Mukesh Kalra and Santosh Navlani, and was acquired by Times Internet for an undisclosed sum in 2014. After the acquisition, the company was rebranded as SmartSpends, and was yet again rebranded to ET Money in 2016. Over the years, ET Money had positioned itself as a platform for users to buy mutual funds and manage their investments.
ET Money was helped by the fact that Times Internet had given its finance portal Economic Times’ name to the platform, which gave the company credibility and prominence and enabled it to grow. ET Money currently has over 9 lakh transacting clients, and has Assets Under Management of $8.3 billion. It currently has monthly mutual fund net inflows of around $89.9 million.
Times Internet, however, has chosen to sell off the company to IIFL. This isn’t the only sale that Times Internet has gone through with in recent times — just a few weeks ago, Times Internet had agreed to sell MX Player to Amazon for less than $100 million. In late 2022, Times Internet had also sold its online portals MensXP and iDiva to Mensa Brands.
IIFL, on the other hand, will look to democratize is high-net-worth offering of 360 One with the more mass market consumers of ET Money. IIFL has been investing in finance companies in the recent past — in 2018, it had picked up a 15% stake in financial marketing analytics company Trendlyne, and has also tied up with wealth analytics company Hurun to have its reports branded as the IIFL Wealth Hurun reports.