Walmart made it official this morning, announcing that it will pay $16 billion for a 77% stake in Indian e-commerce leader Flipkart. Included in that total is a reported $3 billion investment from Google's parent company, Alphabet.
Why it matters: Amazon just suffered the sort of defeat that is usually reserved for physical retailers.
For Flipkart, this provides the company with a permanent capital structure without sacrificing managerial independence. It still expects to do an IPO — think Walmex 2.0 — but that runway has been significantly extended.
For India's startup ecosystem, this could be a game changer. Not only in terms of inspiring other prospective entrepreneurs, but also in the sheer amount of cash that Flipkart employees will have to invest in their own startups or in someone else's.
More notes on the deal:
