Walmart's Flipkart deal gets rude welcome from market, shares plunge 4%

Walmart Inc.’s deal to buy a controlling stake in India’s biggest online seller is meeting skepticism on Wall Street.

The world’s largest retailer will acquire a 77 percent holding in Flipkart Group for $16 billion, the companies said earlier Wednesday. Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and other shareholders will hold the remainder. The tie-up values the Indian e-commerce giant at about $20.8 billion and marks a blow against rival Amazon.com Inc. as the battle for e-commerce supremacy goes global.

The deal -- Walmart’s biggest ever -- gives it greater access to India’s e-commerce market, which Morgan Stanley has estimated will grow to $200 billion in about a decade. But it will take some time for the business to turn profitable, and analysts on a Wednesday morning call about the deal adopted a cautious tone. S&P Global Ratings changed its outlook on Walmart to negative.

“As Flipkart is expected to generate meaningful losses for at least the next few years, this is clearly an investment for the future,” Moody’s analyst Charlie O’Shea wrote in a note.

Walmart shares dropped as much as 4.2 percent to $82.12 as of 10:28 a.m. in New York -- the lowest intraday price since October. The company’s stock was already down 13 percent this year through Tuesday’s close.

Uber ex-CEO Kalanick likely to sell 29% of stake for $1.4 billion

Uber Technologies Inc co-founder Travis Kalanick, who was ousted as chief executive in June, will sell nearly a third of his shares in the ride-services company for about $1.4 billion, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Kalanick's sale is part of a deal with a group of investors led by SoftBank Group Corp, which is taking a 17.5 percent stake in Uber, mostly by buying shares from early investors and employees. SoftBank last week secured agreements from shareholders who were willing to sell, and the deal will close early this year, Uber said.

Kalanick had offered to sell half of his total shares, but because there was a limit on how much SoftBank will buy, he will sell just 29 percent, according to the source. Other investors also did not get to unload as many shares as they had hoped because of such widespread interest to sell.

A spokesman for Kalanick declined to comment. SoftBank could not be reached for comment.

Kalanick's share sale will earn him about $1.4 billion, the source added. The former Uber CEO is still on the board of directors.

The SoftBank deal values Uber at $48 billion, about a 30 percent discount from its most recent valuation of $68 billion. However, the investor consortium is also making a $1.25 billion investment of fresh funding at the older, higher valuation.

Bloomberg first reported Kalanick's plans to sell part of his stake
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Benchmark, Menlo Ventures ready to sell some Uber stock: SoftBank

SoftBank Group-led team of investors has confirmed that they have found likely sellers for the tender offer for app-based cab aggregator, Uber's shares.

According to TechCrunch.com, Uber shares from existing shareholders will be sold at more than 30 per cent discount as compared to the last private round.

"SoftBank and Dragoneer have received indications from Benchmark, Menlo Ventures, and other early investors of their intent to sell shares in the tender offer. Any sales by these shareholders will be pursuant to the same terms and conditions as will be offered to all other eligible holders that participate in the tender offer," said a statement from SoftBank Group.

Moreover, Sequoia Capital, Tencent and TPG are also looking to invest in Uber.

Sequoia Capital had previously invested in Uber through its 'scout' programme, which involved covertly finding deal opportunities through its network.

Alfred Lin, a partner in Sequoia, also made an angel investment at the seed stage.

Today, Uber employees with at least 10,000 of vested shares will be eligible to sell.

Moreover, other Uber shareholders, which include venture capitalists, angel investors and former employees could also be eligible.
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Flipkart looking to raise $1 billion in latest funding round: Source

Latest News - India's top e-commerce company Flipkart is holding talks with investors to raise up to $1 billion in one of its biggest funding rounds so far, a source familiar with developments said on Wednesday.

The source declined to name the potential investors and the exact valuation Flipkart was looking for, but said it hoped the valuation would be in the "double digits", referring to a valuation of $10 billion or more.

Earlier on Wednesday, Financial Express newspaper, citing unidentified sources, said (Read More)