Facebook Buys 10% Stake In Jio For ?43,574 Crore, Largest FDI Deal By A Tech Company

While you were just waking up to get ready for another day of COVID-19 lockdown, social media giant Facebook has announced that it will invest Rs 43,574 crores in Reliance’s Jio Platforms with a gargantuan stake of 9.99 percent.?

This move will make Facebook the largest minority shareholder in Jio, and the deal is touted by Reliance Jio as the largest FDI minority stake by a tech company ever.?

Reuters

Facebook’s investment in Jio’s platforms now brings its valuation at Rs 4.62 lakh crore. It announced in a statement that the primary focus of the social media giant will be e-commerce. They plan to merge Jio’s small business initiative with Facebook’s popular texting platform WhatsApp.

Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post, "Facebook is teaming up with Jio Platforms - we're making a financial investment, and more than that, we're committing to work together on some major projects that will open up commerce opportunities for people across India."

He added, "India is home to the largest communities on Facebook and WhatsApp and a lot of talented entrepreneurs. The country is in the middle of a major digital transformation and organisations like Jio have played a big part in getting hundreds of millions of Indians, small businesses online."?

Jio reportedly had 370 million or 37 crore subscribers in Jan 2020. The Facebook deal is Rs 43,574 crores for 9.99 percent (almost 10 percent). That means the total value of Jio (as per Facebook is ?435740 crore. So if you do the math, 435740/37 = Rs 11,777 value of each Jio subscriber (according to Facebook).

Reuters

Jio head Mukesh Ambani said in a statement, “At the core of our partnership is the commitment that Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and I share for the all-round digital transformation of India and for serving all Indians. In the post-Corona era, I am confident of India’s economic recovery and resurgence in the shortest period of time. The partnership will surely make an important contribution to this transformation.”

He further added, "In the very near future, JioMart – Jio’s digital new commerce platform, and WhatsApp – will empower nearly 3 crore small Indian Kirana shops to digitally transact with every customer in their neighbourhood. This means all of you can order and get faster delivery of day-to-day items, from nearby local shops."