Flipkart Co Founder Sachin Bansal To Exit The Firm Post Walmart Deal

The Flipkart and Walmart deal have been making the headlines lately. The multinational retail corporation Walmart Inc., is all set to take over majority of Flipkart’s stake. Flipkart’s Founder Sachin Bansal is reportedly planning to sell his 5.5% stake in the company for nearly $1 billion to Walmart.

The retail giant firm will now emerge as the largest shareholder in Flipkart with 60-70% stake. The US based firm currently operates 21 wholesale shops in India.

According to a report, SoftBank which currently has 23.6% stake in Flipkart and Naspers which holds 13% stake in the firm are likely make an exit from the company. However, Tiger Global Management along with other investors are expected to liquidate 70 to 80% of their shares to Walmart. Among the 50 investors who own a stake in Flipkart, only Tiger and Tencent are expected to get a board seat each. Currently Flipkart is valued at $20-22 Billion. So, Walmart will have to spend nearly $14-16 billion to buy 73% of the stake. While Google will reportedly invest $3 billion, SoftBank which invested $2.5 billion last year may have to take an exit from Flipkart at $4 billion valuation. The Seattle based retail giant Amazon has also been in talks with Flipkart for months to acquire a controlling stake in the firm. Amazon has also made a formal offer to buy a 60% stake in Flipkart. But there have been no confirmations so far.

The current CEO of Flipkart Kalyan Krishnamurthy will also continue his participation in Flipkart’s operations but will not be taking up a board seat. According to the sources, co founder Binny Bansal will keep his board seat and partially sell his stake. Sachin and Binny are part of Flipkart’s 10 member board right now while Kalyan is not on the board.

Post the exit of Sachin Bansal from the firm, Binny Bansal may be appointed as the new chairman of the famous etailer Flipkart.

Flipkart was started back in 2007 when two friends, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal planned on establishing India’s own ecommerce website. In less than 6 years, the company climbed the ladder of success to become India’s first and biggest e retail company.