CEO Deepinder Goyal's ESOPs cost Zomato Rs 143 crore in H2FY23

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) given to the co-founder of Zomato, Deepinder Goyal, came at a cost of Rs 143 crore to the company in the second half of FY23, according to the transactions filings by the company released to the exchanges.
 
In addition, ESOPs worth Rs 13.5 crore and Rs 10 lakh were also awarded to senior executives of the company including Akshant Goyal, Chief Financial Officer and Sandhya Sethia, Company Secretary. Moreover, the foodtech major also reported in a shareholder letter last week that its costs incurred for rolling out ESOPs went down to Rs 510 crore in FY23 as compared to Rs 880 crore in FY22.
 
The company also reported its results for the March quarter. Zomato last week reported a narrowing of losses at Rs 188.20 crore for the March quarter compared with Rs 346.60 crore in the December quarter and Rs 359.70 crore in the same quarter last year. Zomato said its business, excluding quick commerce, turned positive adjusted Ebitda, in the March quarter. 
 
‘Adjusted Ebitda positive’ means that its operating earnings, barring certain non-cash expenses and one-time charges, are greater than its operating expenses.
 
“I would rate our current confidence level (regarding group-level profitability) at 9/10....In food delivery, over the last five quarters, we have improved our margins meaningfully while further strengthening our market position. We will continue with the same mindset as we look to further expand the Adjusted EBITDA margin (from the current 1.2 percent) to our stated goal of +4-5 percent of Gross Order Value (GOV), which would translate to ~Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,300 crores of annual cash operating profit at the current scale of the food delivery business,” he wrote.
 
Moreover, the revenue for the quarter rose 69.66 per cent to Rs 2,056 crore for the quarter compared with Rs 1,211.80 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
 
In the letter to his shareholders, Goyal also said the company is aiming to achieve group-level profitability, including the quick commerce arm Blinkit, in four quarters. Increasing profits in the food delivery business and reducing losses in Blinkit will get the company there.

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