Walmart Just Acquired Flipkart for $16 Billion

Over the weekend, Walmart, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) announced that it completed its $16 billion investment acquisition of Flipkart. The Walmart Flipkart acquisition was announced back in May of this year, but has recently been finalized. Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company.

Walmart Flipkart Acquisition

“Walmart and Flipkart will achieve more together than each of us could accomplish separately to contribute to the economic growth of India, creating a strong local business powered by Walmart,” said Judith McKenna, President and COO of Walmart International.

This Flipkart investment completely transforms Walmart’s position in India that currently holds 1.3 billion people. According to the press release by Walmart, it plans to target India’s growing middle class with smartphones, internet, and eCommerce.

With the completion of the investment, Walmart now holds around 77 percent of Flipkart. The company has bought out a number of prior investors and is hoping to expand its rivalry with Amazon. Flipkart will continue to be run by its leadership but other allies will come aboard the company as investors.

“Not only is [Flipkart] innovative [with the] problem-solving culture that they have, but they are doing some great work both in the AI space, how they are using data across their platforms but particularly in terms of the payment platform that they’ve created through PhonePe. All of those things we can learn from for the future and see how we can leverage those around the international markets and potentially into the US as well,” McKenna said, back in May, when the deal was announced.

>> Walmart Q2 Earnings Give Stock Boost

Walmart Continues to Rise

Last Thursday, Walmart announced their 2018 Q2 earnings and the stock jumped up over 10%. The company’s earnings far exceeded analysts’ predictions and the company continues to push forward.

It remains unknown what Walmart is planning on doing with the rising prices of goods and whether they will be raising their ‘low’ prices too. This will be the next big step for the company that could positively or negatively affect its share prices.