Advertisement

Softbank is selling off its 20% stake in Flipkart to Walmart, making its first public divestment

It also did not comment on its reasons for cashing out. The Flipkart exit comes far more quickly than SoftBank’s average investment duration of 13.5 years.

Advertisement
|May 23, 2018, 13:02:21 IST
SoftBank Group Corp said on 23 May it is selling its roughly 20 percent stake in Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart to Walmart Inc, the first public divestment by its Vision Fund.[caption id="attachment_4473471" align="alignleft" width="380"]The logo of Flipkart is seen on the company's office in Bengaluru. Reuters.

The logo of Flipkart is seen on the company's office in Bengaluru. Reuters.[/caption]Walmart said this month it will pay $16 billion for a stake of around 77 percent in Flipkart and there had been some uncertainty over whether the Japanese tech and investment giant would remain a shareholder.SoftBank did not disclose terms of the sale but this month CEO Masayoshi Son said its investment in the Indian firm was worth around $4 billion. The Vision Fund invested invested $2.5 billion in Flipkart in August last year.It also did not comment on its reasons for cashing out. The Flipkart exit comes far more quickly than SoftBank’s average investment duration of 13.5 years.The Vision Fund has invested $30 billion in startups in the last year. Son, who, as of last May, has attracted $93 billion to his technology investment vehicle, said last week he is looking to start a new fund — potentially further upending the world of dealmaking.Major investments by the fund include ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies, co-working space provider WeWork Cos and chip designer Arm Holdings.

Handpicked stories, in your inbox
Global stories. Indian perspective. Zero noise.
No Spam. Unsubscribe Any Time.
First Published:May 23, 2018, 13:02:21 IST
Advertisement
Advertisement
Trending Stories

China's Kimi K3 challenges US AI leaders with frontier-level performance at lower cost

Chinese artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI has unveiled its latest open-weight AI model, Kimi K3, with early results suggesting it could compete with some of the world's most advanced AI systems developed by leading US companies
2 min read
Advertisement
Advertisement
Up Next