Flipkart will become Walmart today: Is that really good news for India?

When Carl Douglas McMillon, president and chief executive officer of Walmart Inc, arrives at the Embassy Tech Village headquarters of Flipkart in Bengaluru later on Wednesday to acquire India’s first-to-a-billion-dollars-startup, he will be accompanied by Walmart International’s Judith McKenna and CEO (commerce) Marc Lore. It will be a triumphal return to India for the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer which will be partnering Google’s parent Alphabet Inc in a deal estimated at $18-20 billion enterprise value – Walmart will own about 60 per cent stake, and Alphabet will get to own about 15 per cent of the online market place.

The passage of the past five years has obviously dulled memories. All recent media reports seem to have conveniently glossed over the history of Walmart’s previous foray into India, in partnership with Sunil Mittal’s Bharti group. Walmart in 2012 launched a global review of corruption after a New York Times report on bribery at the company’s Mexico operations. The review by its lawyers flagged India among the countries with the highest corruption risk. The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act forbids American firms from paying bribes. Almost on cue, in November that year, Bharti Walmart suspended a number of employees, including the chief financial officer, as part of an internal investigation into bribery allegations in the Indian operation. By June 2013, Raj Jain, the CEO of the India operations, quit after six years at the helm of the company. It did not take much time thereafter for the Walmart-Bharti JV to fall apart.

Snapdeal founders, Nexus reach deal with SoftBank for sale to Flipkart

Founders of Indian online marketplace Snapdeal and one of its early investors, Nexus, have reached an agreement with SoftBank Group that would allow the Japanese firm to move ahead with its plan to sell Snapdeal to bigger rival Flipkart, ET Now reported, citing sources.

Nexus and Snapdeal founders have agreed to the terms of payment with SoftBank wherein Snapdeal founders would get $15 million each and Nexus would get $50 million to $60 million, the business channel said on Thursday.

Flipkart is expected to sign the term sheet and start due diligence of Snapdeal, ET Now added.

Snapdeal and SoftBank were not immediately reachable for comment, while Nexus declined to comment.

Sources told Reuters last week that SoftBank is working to engineer a sale of Snapdeal to Flipkart, as it seeks to play consolidator and take a more active role at a trio of leading start-ups in India.

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Apple confirms $1 billion investment in SoftBank tech fund

Latest Business News - Apple Inc confirmed on Wednesday its plans to invest $1 billion in a tech fund being set up by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp.

SoftBank has said it is investing at least $25 billion in the fund and has been in talks with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund for an investment that could be as much as $45 billion.

"We believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple," company spokesman Josh Rosenstock told Reuters.

SoftBank has also said that it plans to make future large-scale investments via the tech fund, rather than on its own.

Reuters reported in December, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Apple had held talks with SoftBank about the investment.(Read More)