Shillong, September 2: Retail giant Walmart has made a substantial investment of approximately $3.5 billion in the e-commerce powerhouse Flipkart.
As per IANS, this transaction involved the acquisition of shares from non-controlling stakeholders, which included co-founder Binny Bansal and prominent investment firms like Tiger Global and Accel, among others.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States, Walmart disclosed that during the six months ending on July 31, 2023, the company disbursed $3.5 billion to purchase shares from specific non-controlling interest holders of Flipkart and to settle liabilities associated with former non-controlling interest holders of PhonePe.
Furthermore, within the same period, Walmart received $0.7 billion in connection with fresh rounds of equity funding for its majority-owned subsidiary, PhonePe.
Binny Bansal, one of the co-founders of Flipkart, reportedly reaped between $1 billion to $1.5 billion from his ownership stake in the e-commerce giant. It’s worth noting that both Binny and Sachin Bansal exited Flipkart after selling it to Walmart in 2018 for an estimated $16 billion.
In the previous year, Binny Bansal divested his stake, amounting to $264 million (equivalent to over Rs 2,000 crore), in the homegrown e-commerce platform to the Chinese internet powerhouse Tencent.
In July, Walmart further solidified its position in Flipkart by paying $1.4 billion to acquire the remaining shares held by VC firm Tiger Global. This strategic move aimed to strengthen Walmart’s influence over the Indian e-commerce behemoth.
Tiger Global, which initially invested $1.2 billion, reaped a substantial gain of $3.5 billion from its investment.
As of the last reported figures, Flipkart had an estimated valuation of $37.6 billion, with Walmart holding a majority 72% stake in the company.