BENGALURU: Walmart has spent $3.5 billion to buy shares in ecommerce company Flipkart.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, it said, “During the six months ended July 31, 2023, the company paid USD 3.5 billion to acquire shares from certain Flipkart noncontrolling interest holders and settle the liability to former noncontrolling interest holders of PhonePe.”
With this, Walmart’s total holding in the e-commerce company Flipkart is said to have increased to 80.5%.
Walmart has bought a stake from hedge fund Tiger Global and Accel Partners. Besides, the US retail major also acquired the residual stake of Binny Bansal, Flipkart cofounder.
US-based Bentonville in 2018 completed the acquisition of a 77% stake in Flipkart and became the majority owner of the e-commerce company. Last month, in an investor call, Walmart said Flipkart’s GMV was strong and ecommerce grew 26% in the June quarter.
Flipkart’s Myntra is the country’s largest ecommerce marketplace for fashion and lifestyle products. Myntra now provides access to more than 6,000 brands on its marketplace. “Both our businesses in India, Flipkart and PhonePe, had strong quarters as well. A lot of that is driven from just really being close to the customer in those markets and the combination of value and convenience that we’re now able to offer,” Walmart International President & Chief Executive Officer Judith McKenna had said.
Walmart CFO John David Rainey had said that Flipkart delivered strong GMV and net sales growth as the core business continues to grow well. “The team continues to work on expanding the ecosystem of product and services like advertising, travel, and healthcare, and on delivering continued contribution profit improvement. Flipkart’s consistent progress and performance reinforces our confidence in the long-term value of this business,” he added. PhonePe, which separated from Flipkart, has been introducing new products in recent times. Backed by Walmart, digital payments company PhonePe last week launched its new stock broking platform Share.Market under its subsidiary PhonePe Wealth Broking.