Report: Walmart Beats Amazon in $15 Billion Flipkart Acquisition Battle

This week, the board of Flipkart Online Services Pvt has approved an agreement to sell about 75 percent of the company to a Walmart Inc.-led group for approximately $15 billion, according to sources. Bloomberg reports under the proposed deal, SoftBank Group Corp. will sell all of the 20-plus percent stake it holds in Flipkart through an investment fund at a valuation of roughly $20 billion. It's rumored Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, is likely to participate in the investment with Walmart.

Total Retail's Take: This acquisition comes with a hefty price tag for Walmart, but could make it a real contender against Amazon in the fast-growing e-commerce market of India. The two retail giants have engaged in a prolonged bidding war for Flipkart. Over the last few months, Walmart has focused on narrowing the focus of its international expansion and growth, with a target on India (and Flipkart). Walmart's international expansion strategy focuses on partnerships to help it grow in markets that directly compete with Amazon, India being a prime example. The Flipkart acquisition will no doubt help with those plans.