- Google is in advanced talks to buy a stake in the digital arm Jio Platforms Ltd. of Reliance Industries Ltd, according to Bloomberg.
Google is in advanced talks to buy a stake in the digital arm Jio Platforms Ltd. of Reliance Industries Ltd, according to Bloomberg.
The U.S. technology firm has been discussing $4 billion in investment, people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. According to the people, an announcement could come in as early as the next few weeks.
Details of the proposed agreement may change, and talks could still be postponed or disintegrated, people said. Google and Reliance representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Google will follow Facebook Inc. and a host of private equity firms pouring into the technology company of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, which has already received more than $15 billion in investment in a few months. The latest in Jio ‘s rising list of high-profile investors, including Silver Lake Partners and Mubadala Investment Co, was an arm of Qualcomm Inc.
Google said on Monday it plans to spend $10 billion over the next five to seven years helping drive digital technology adoption in India. Among others, the amount might be put into partnerships and equity investments.
Sundar Pichai, who was born in the country and is now the Chief Executive Officer of parent Alphabet Inc., said the coronavirus outbreak has made clear the importance of technology to conduct business and to connect with family and friends.
“There is still more work to be done to make the internet accessible and usable to a billion Indians … from developing voice input and computing for all the languages of India, to encouraging and helping a whole new generation of entrepreneurs,” Pichai said.
Qualcomm Ventures will invest 0.15% of the total 0.730 crores in Jio Platforms, becoming the 12th company to invest in Reliance Industries’ digital services subsidiary (RIL) in over three months.
In a release, RIL said the transaction values Jio Platforms at an equity valuation of some 4.91 trillion and a corporate value of some 5.16 trillion.
As a result, RIL sold a total of 25.24 percent stake in Jio Platforms to Facebook, General Atlantic, TPG, KKR, Silver Lake, L Catterton, Vista Equity Partners, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala Investment Company, and Public Investment Fund (PIF), Intel Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures raising 11,18,318.45 crores.
