Surprise! Walmart Flipkart stake quietly soars to 81.3%

Walmart said it is in talks to bring new investors into Flipkart, said the report, and cited one person familiar with the matter saying that Flipkart is in discussions with Google, Intel and existing investor Microsoft to raise more capital.

Flipkart valuation might have also risen since May when it was reportedly valued at $20 billion because of the mammoth success of its festival season sales. Image source: Reuters

In a surprise move, US retail giant Walmart has quietly increased its stake in Flipkart to 81.3 per cent from 77 per cent, which it had acquired for $16 billion in May this year, said a BusinessLine report. In May, Walmart had reportedly stated that it is acquiring a 77 per cent stake in Flipkart for $16 billion, and this included an equity infusion of $2 billion into the e-commerce venture. The report said that a good part of the total equity infusion might have resulted in an increase in its stake by 4.3 per cent.

Walmart said it is in talks to bring new investors into Flipkart, said the report, and cited one person familiar with the matter saying that Flipkart is in discussions with Google, Intel and existing investor Microsoft to raise more capital.

The valuation of Flipkart might have also risen since May when it was reportedly valued at $20 billion because of the mammoth success of its festival season sales which concluded recently.

Equity holders in Flipkart

Tencent 5.37 per cent
Tiger Global 4.77 per cent
Binny Bansal 4.2 per cent
Microsoft 1.53 per cent
Accel 1.38 per cent
Iconiq Capital 0.98 per cent
Temasek 0.29 per cent
UBS 0.19 per cent.
(Data as per paper.vc)

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This hike in Walmart stake happened even as controversy over Binny Bansal's stepping down as Group CEO of Flipkart following personal misconduct allegations is still raging.

Who Held What Stake in Flipkart Previously

SoftBank Vision has 19.08 per cent stake
Tiger Global 18.83 per cent
Nasper 11.78 per cent
eBay 5.61 per cent
Tencent 5.41 per cent
Accel 5.31 per cent
Sachin Bansal 5.10 per cent
Binny Bansal 4.82 per cent.

Notably, Sachin Bansal had exited Flipkart after selling his entire stake as part of the deal.

Earlier this month, Binny Bansal stepped down as Group CEO following personal misconduct allegations. Walmart had issued a statement saying Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal had resigned as the group chief executive officer.

The cryptic statement said an independent investigation had been conducted against Bansal following allegations of "serious personal misconduct" but gave no details about the nature of the misconduct and findings of the probe for which a global law firm had been engaged.

It, however, gave a clean chit to Bansal stating that the probe "did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant's assertions" against him.

Binny, 37, who strongly denied the charges saying he was "stunned" by the allegations, had added that while he had stepped down from the lead role, he would continue to remain a large shareholder and board member of the company that he co-founded 11 years ago with Sachin Bansal.

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