Nov 22, 2017 - Technology

SoftBank's ride-hail ambitions turn to India

Kia Kokalitcheva

SoftBank is seeking to increase its stake in Indian ride-hail company Ola, in which it already owns 25%. According to The Financial Times, the Japanese giant is in talks to buy some or all of a 13% to 14% stake currently held by U.S.-based Tiger Global Management.

Bigger picture: SoftBank basically wants to own global ride-hail, having already invested in China's Didi Chuxing, Southeast Asia-focused Grab, Brazil's 99 and launching a multi-billion dollar tender offer for Uber shares.

SoftBank's investment in all the major players could further consolidation more likely (last year Uber sold its Chinese business to Didi).

Wrinkle: Ola recently added a requirement that shareholders could only buy stakes from others with approval from the founders and the company's board. It's unclear if they would permit SoftBank's purchase of Tiger Global's stake.

Add Axios on Google

SoftBank's ride-hail ambitions turn to India

What to read next