The e-commerce giant Amazon has countered Walmart by offering to buy 60 percent stake in Flipkart. Walmart-Flipkart deal was likely finalized for around $10 billion to $12 billion and SoftBank was waiting for Amazon’s proposal.
Also Read: Alphabet Shows Interest In Buying Flipkart’s Stake, SoftBank Is Waiting For Amazon’s Offer
If Amazon manages to get this deal, it will rule the Indian online market without any big competitor. Walmart knows this and is trying to buy Flipkart’s stake at any cost. Flipkart’s founders and investors are in favour of Walmart as it will be good for the Indian market and the customers.
Indian e-commerce market is estimated to reach $200 billion in a decade and both these deals will have different impacts in shaping the industry. Flipkart’s officials have denied to say anything about this as so many things are happening around them and their comments can make a negative impact on the price of the deal.
Amazon’s offer price has not been revealed but reports say that it is equivalent or more than Walmart’s offer.
Note that Walmart entered Indian market back in the year 2007 through a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises when Amazon was not doing business in India and even after closing the venture in 2013, Walmart still holds 21 wholesale supermarkets in the country.
A lot of Indians are against both these deals as they think that Flipkart being an Indian company should continue its operations without any major investments from other countries. It will be very interesting to see what happens in next few days as future of Indian e-commerce business lies heavily on these big players.
