Walmart buys $1.4 Billion stake of Flipkart from hedge fund Tiger Global

Global retail giant Walmart has acquired a $1.4 billion stake of the Indian e-commerce site Flipkart from hedge fund Tiger Global. This acquisition, reported by The Wall Street Journal based on information from Tiger Global’s letter to investors, places a valuation of $35 billion on Flipkart, highlighting the considerable scale of the investment and the confidence in the e-commerce company’s potential. According to reports they acquired private equity firm Accel’s remaining 1 percent stake in the company as well.

While a Walmart spokesperson confirmed the buyout to Reuters, they refrained from disclosing further details about the financial aspects of the deal. “We remain confident in the future of Flipkart and are even more positive about the opportunity in India today than when we first invested,” the Walmart spokesperson said. Tiger Global, which sold its stake of Flipkart has also not commented on the transaction.

Earlier this year, there were reports that private equity firms Accel and Tiger Global, both early backers of Flipkart, were in discussions to sell their remaining stake in the company to Walmart. Tiger Global held a stake of about 4% in the e-commerce giant. Walmart had initially acquired a 77% stake in Flipkart in 2018 for $16 billion and had expressed its will to make the company public within four years of its acquisition.

Launched in 2007, Flipkart with a registered customer base of over 400 million, offering over 150 million products across 80 categories, has enabled millions of consumers, sellers, merchants and small businesses to be a part of India’s digital commerce revolution. The Flipkart Group is one of India’s leading digital commerce conglomerates and includes group companies Flipkart, Myntra, Flipkart Wholesale, Flipkart Health Plus and Cleartrip.