Flipkart’s board has approved an agreement to sell roughly 75% of the Indian e-commerce giant to Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) for approximately US$15bn, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the deal.
The report states that under the proposed deal, Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) will also sell the group its stake, which is more than 20%. The deal would value Flipkart at around US$20bn.
Google-parent Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is likely to participate in the investment with Walmart. “A final close is expected within 10 days, though terms could still change and a deal isn’t certain,” said the report.
The deal with India’s largest e-commerce company would provide Walmart with a leg up into the country’s 1.3-billion-person market.
A David and Goliath battle rages in India between Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) which are both hoping to dominate the Indian e-commerce market. Flipkart currently controls nearly 40 percent of India’s online retail market, ahead of Amazon, showed estimates by researcher Forrester.
Ironically, Flipkart was founded by two former Amazon employees Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007.
The Times of India newspaper reported on Friday that, after the Walmart takeover, Flipkart chairman Sachin Bansal will step down while Binny Bansal would stay on. According to the report, Walmart only wants one of the co-founders to hang around.