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With Walmart Inc. reportedly closing in on a majority stake in Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd. ahead of a rival bid by Amazon.com Inc., a spotlight has turned on the Indian e-commerce player, and the appeal of its rapidly growing market.
Following months of media coverage about discussions between Walmart and Flipkart, Reuters reported May 7 that the U.S. retail giant will likely soon announce a deal to acquire a 60% stake in the Indian company, with Google Inc. parent Alphabet Inc. purchasing another stake of approximately 15%.
The news came just a few days after Bloomberg reported that Walmart is leading a group including Alphabet which offered to pay $15 billion for about 75% of Flipkart. The e-commerce company's board has reportedly approved Walmart's proposed deal, which values Flipkart at around $20 billion.
Flipkart also has a bid in from Amazon to purchase a 60% stake, according to a May 2 report by CNBC's Indian affiliate TV18. Amazon's offer values Flipkart slightly higher than Walmart's, at $22 billion to $23 billion, The Economic Times of India reported, citing a source.
Both of those reported offers may appear high for the company, which counts SoftBank Group Corp. as an investor. Flipkart is valued at approximately $17.69 billion, Indian private market data provider Paper.vc reported May 3.
For its fiscal year ended March 2017, Flipkart saw a leap in sales but wider losses. Sales rose around 29% on the year to 198.55 billion Indian rupees as losses swelled about 68% to 87.71 billion rupees, according to regulatory...