Walmart is spending another $1.4 billion on India’s Flipkart

Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) is spending another $1.4 billion to expand its footprint in India, as per a WSJ report on Monday.

Walmart raises its stake in Flipkart

The retail behemoth invested $16 billion in 2018 to notch up a 77% stake in Flipkart. Now it’s putting in another $1.4 billion to acquire the remaining stake of Tiger Global in India’s largest eCommerce platform.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the said transaction values Flipkart at roughly $35 billion – down from $38 billion that the online shopping store was worth in 2021.

Walmart has also reportedly bought out the remaining stake of Accel in Flipkart. How much did the multinational pay for it, though, remains to be known.

Shares of the big-box retailer are currently up more than 10% for the year.

Walmart is super bullish on Flipkart

Note that Flipkart has been considering listing in the United States for years. In April of 2022, it was reported targeting a valuation of up to $70 billion. But the eCommerce platform has not so far confirmed plans of an IPO.

Walmart wants to double its international gross merchandise volume over the next five years and had recently dubbed Flipkart a key to delivering on that commitment.

We remain confident in the future of Flipkart and are even more positive about the opportunity in India today than when we first invested.

The news arrives only days before Walmart Inc is expected to report its financial results for the second quarter. Consensus is for it to earn $1.67 a share versus $1.77 per share a year ago.