From the Middle East to existence of an advanced civilisation? And much more ...
This week we go to the Middle East countries & their relationship with India. We also look at the future of global taxation, building of cloud infrastructure, while rediscovering Gunung Padang
The lure of IPL
With the ICC Cricket World Cup happening right now, let’s explore another cricket tournament that has made waves in recent times. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the most popular and lucrative sports leagues in the world, attracting some of the best cricket players, celebrities, sponsors, broadcasters, and fans from across the globe. However, the question that is often asked is how much business IPL does and does it have a brand value that can attract global investors?
The IPL has three main sources of revenue: broadcasting rights, central sponsorships, and franchise revenues. Let’s explore each of them:
Broadcasting rights: The IPL has seen phenomenal growth in its broadcasting rights value over the years.
In 2008, it signed a 10-year deal worth $1.026 billion with Sony Entertainment Television.
In 2017, it signed a five-year deal worth $2.55 billion with Star India, which was the highest ever for any cricket tournament.
In 2022, it signed another five-year deal worth $6.2 billion with Viacom-18 (digital), Star India (television), and Times Internet (global), which made it the second-most valuable sports league in the world after the NFL. That works out to $15.1 million per match, more than the EPL and just behind the $17 million networks pay for each game in the National Football League in the US.
Central sponsorships: Central sponsorships are another major source of income for the IPL, making up about 20% of its total revenues. The IPL sells its title sponsorship, official partner, official sponsor, and strategic timeout partner rights to various brands.
In 2008, it signed a five-year deal worth $50 million with DLF as its title sponsor.
In 2017, it signed a five-year deal worth $341 million with Vivo as its title sponsor.
In 2021, it signed a three-year deal worth $225 million with Dream11 as its title sponsor.
Franchise revenues: Franchise revenues are the third source of income for the IPL, making up about 10% of its total revenues. The franchises generate their revenues from various streams such as ticket sales, merchandise sales, player transfers, local sponsorships, and prize money. The franchises also share their revenues with the BCCI as per mutually agreed regulations.
In 2008, they were bought for a total of $723.59 million.
In 2021, they were valued at a total of $4.7 billion.
Now, as per recent media reports, Saudi Arabia has proposed an investment of $5 billion into the league and help expand into other countries.
Is UAE putting its bet on India?
India, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, is attracting a potential investment of up to $50 billion from the United Arab Emirates, its second-biggest trading partner.
The two nations have been strengthening their relationship for the past ten years, and have a goal of doubling their non-oil bilateral trade to $100 billion.
The UAE is looking at acquiring stakes in key Indian infrastructure projects and state-owned assets, as part of its broader strategy to diversify its investments beyond traditional markets like Europe.
The UAE, which has one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with nearly $1.5 trillion, is a valuable partner for India, which needs to improve its infrastructure.
India also benefits from the growing middle class in the Gulf state, which offers more opportunities for trade and cooperation.
Global treaty on its way in taxing technology giants?
A global agreement to make big tech and other large corporations pay more tax in the countries where they operate has been praised by the OECD, which published an international treaty drafted by over 130 nations.
The treaty, if signed and ratified by enough nations, would result in the transfer of $200bn-worth of profits annually from multinationals to the countries where they generate sales. Some 143 countries are involved in the talks at the OECD.
The new rules would apply to multinationals that have more than €20bn in revenue and a profit margin above 10%.
For these companies, a quarter of their profits above a 10% margin would be taxed in the countries where they have customers.
However, the deal still faces uncertainty over how many national governments will approve it.
To become legally binding internationally, the treaty needs to be signed by at least 30 jurisdictions, which host the headquarters of at least 60% of the around 100 companies affected by the changes.
Are tech giants preparing from a hardware perspective for the huge demand from GenAI?
The world’s leading cloud computing companies, namely Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet (ie. Google), are planning to increase their capital spending to expand their capacity for generative artificial intelligence.
Their combined capex reached $42bn in the third quarter of 2023, which was a 20 percent increase from the same quarter in 2021.
According to Bank of America analysts, the cloud-related capex of these three companies will grow by 22 percent in 2024 to $116bn.
They also revised their 2023 forecast from zero growth to 14 percent.
In 2022, the total investment of these companies grew by 20 percent from 2021 to $84bn, BofA said.
However, this high level of capex may not have an immediate impact but could affect the margins and cash flow of these companies in the long run.
Does Indonesia have a buried pyramid, which is the world’s oldest one?
A hidden pyramid under a hill in Indonesia, known as Gunung Padang, is older than Stonehenge or the Giza Pyramids and could be one of the oldest human-made structures ever. The researchers have found strong evidence that the hill of lava was shaped by an ancient civilization into a pyramid-like structure long ago.
They dated the site and found out that the first builders started working on it during the last ice age, more than 16,000 years ago and maybe even 27,000 years ago.
That makes it older than Göbekli Tepe, which is a huge stone structure in Turkey and the oldest known megalith in the world. It is only 11,000 years old.
Gunung Padang was not built all at once but in different stages over thousands of years. The deepest part of the structure is 30 meters below the surface.
This part was probably built between 25,000 and 14,000 BCE, but then it was left alone for a long time.
The builders came back around 7900 to 6100 BCE, and added more rocks and soils to the pyramid, covering some of the older parts.
The last builders arrived around 2000 to 1100 BCE, and put soil and stone terraces on top of the pyramid. This is what we can see today.
“The people who built Unit 3 and Unit 2 at Gunung Padang must have had amazing skills in working with stones, which do not match the traditional cultures of hunters and gatherers,” the researchers say.
There is a theory that a more modern civilisation existed on Earth, way before what our historians have documented. This discovery will provide more weight to that theory.
The researchers also used sound waves to look inside the hill, and they found some hidden spaces and rooms, some of them very big. The researchers want to drill into these spaces and see what is inside. If they find any rooms, they will send a camera down to explore them.