Walmart spends $1.4 billion to increase its stake in India’s Flipkart: report

Published: July 30, 2023 at 8:59 p.m. ET

By

Mike Murphy

Workers scan and sort inbound goods at a Flipkart fulfilment center in Bangalore, India, in September 2021.
AFP via Getty Images

Walmart Inc. spent $1.4 billion in recent days to increase its stake in privately-held Indian e-commerce company Flipkart, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Walmart WMT, +0.47% has bought out Tiger Global’s stake in Flipkart, according to the Journal, citing a letter from the New York hedge fund to its investors. The transaction reportedly valued Flipkart at about $35 billion, down a bit from its $38 billion valuation in 2021.

Flipkart is one of India’s biggest e-commerce companies, and in 2018 Walmart bought a 77% stake in it for $16 billion.

Flipkart has reportedly been pondering a U.S. IPO for years, and Reuters reported in April 2022 that the company had raised its IPO valuation target to $60 billion to $70 billion, with an eye toward a 2023 offering — which so far has not come to fruition.