According to people familiar with the matter, the ownership of Indian ecommerce land snake Flipkart has been settled, and Walmart Inc has finally secured Yun Kai Yue Ming, which will buy a majority stake in Flipkart for at least $12 billion and is likely to complete the acquisition agreement within the next two weeks.
The source said the information was reliable, but spoke on the condition of anonymity because it involved internal privacy. At present, all major investors in Pvt, a Flipkart online service, are in close talks with Walmart Inc after the war of words between Amazon.Com Inc and Walmart Inc finally came to an end. Tiger Global Tiger Global Management will sell a 20 per cent stake in Flipkart, while SoftBank Group Corp, its largest shareholder, Softbank Corp. Group, will divest more than 20 per cent. It is estimated that Walmart Inc will eventually get an 80 per cent stake in Flipkart60%, with a total value of about $20 billion.
It is not clear what Walmart Inc's final share of the acquisition will be and whether the founder of Flipkart will continue to lead the company after the acquisition is completed, and it is also unknown how many shares Flipkart's existing investors will sell. Nor can we completely rule out the possibility that the terms of the acquisition will change or the negotiations will break down.
Walmart Inc has the greatest chance of winning.
If the acquisition is completed successfully, Walmart Inc will take over an emerging market with a population of 1.3 billion. Walmart Inc's position as the world's largest retailer is unparalleled, but in recent years, after the explosion of the e-commerce boom, Amazon.Com Inc began an endless competition for the market in Walmart Inc. The two had been eager to negotiate with BABA Group to enter the Chinese market, but both failed. India is the next huge piece of fat after the United States and China, and neither side wants to be defeated.
Satish Meena, a senior forecasting analyst at Forrester Research in New Delhi, said: "No country has such an opportunity. India is not as tough as China. Cooperation is not a big problem. The question is who can win the favor of Flipkart." "
Walmart Inc and Flipkart did not respond positively to the above news.
Flipkart's board of directors in the face of Walmart Inc and Amazon.Com Inc's goodwill, after careful consideration, finally decided to choose a more friendly Walmart Inc. After all, Walmart Inc has less online retail business in China and faces fewer regulatory hurdles in the future, while Amazon.Com Inc, the world's second-largest e-commerce company, has always been hostile to Flipkart. Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal both prefer Wall, and during this period, there is no lack of Walmart Inc's means to curry favor with Flipkart's "naughty face".
Why did Amazon.Com Inc pursue it so hard?
Amazon.Com Inc has been painting more and more in India. Founder Jeff Bezos recently promised to send a gift of $5.5 billion to India. Amazon.Com Inc India regional manager Amit Agarwal has also contributed to promoting the construction of the Indian region by transforming the local website.
The reason why Amazon.Com Inc wants to intervene in this way is because the closeness between Walmart Inc and Flipkart is too easy to consolidate the power of Flipkart. What he fears most is that Walmart Inc regards Flipkart as his son's pet. Walmart Inc has neither lack of money nor lack of logistics and marketing skills. He can give whatever Flipkart wants.
Meena said, "what Flipkart took ten years to do, Amazon.Com Inc took five years to complete." Now, Amazon.Com Inc has smelled the smell of war, and actively invested in the "preparation of military food", investing a lot of money, especially in the field of food retail and fashion. "
In less than a year, Flipkart jumped from a valuation of $12 billion to the $20 billion given by Walmart Inc, making it the most valuable start-up in India.
People familiar with the situation said that in the market boom of Flipkart last year, Softbank Corp., as the largest shareholder of Flipkart, made considerable profits. Softbank Corp. Group once invested 2.5 billion US dollars in Flipkart, but after the end of the new round of valuation, this stake was transformed into 4 billion US dollars.
If Walmart Inc's acquisition plan goes well, it will be the biggest deal in the early stages of India's e-commerce development.
(this article is produced by Futu Information compilation team, compiled / Luo Yulin, proofread / Yang Jingzhen)