Walmart buys out Tiger Global’s stake in Flipkart for $1.4 billion: Report

US retailer Walmart has reportedly bought out hedge fund Tiger Global’s investment in homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart. It has reportedly paid $1.4 billion for the stake. The New York-based hedge fund sent a letter to its investors, as per a report. 

According to a report by Wall Street Journal that accessed the letter, the transaction valued Flipkart at $35 billion, which is a dip from $38 billion at the time it had sold stakes to SoftBank, Walmart and other investors in 2021. 

This comes even as Tiger Global and Flipkart have a long history. In 2009, Tiger had invested in the company founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007. Moreover, Flipkart’s current CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy is a former MD at Tiger, the report stated. 

Between 2010 and 2015, Tiger invested nearly $1.2 billion in Flipkart, and has gained $3.5 billion in gains, as per the investor letter. 

Walmart had acquired a majority stake of 77 per cent in Flipkart for about $16 billion in 2018. It had said later that year that it could take the company public in four years. It was Walmart’s largest acquisition. 

Recently, at its investor conference Walmart’s Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey had said that the Flipkart marketplace has the potential to become a $100 billion enterprise, driven by robust growth. He said that the strong performance of Flipkart, along with PhonePe payments business, are crucial factors in achieving Walmart’s goal of doubling its gross merchandise volume (GMV) in foreign markets to $200 billion within five years. 

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