Facebook Picks up 9.99% Stake in Reliance Jio for a Whopping $5.7 Billion
Apr. 22, 2020In line withrumorsfrom last month, Facebookannounced todaythat it has picked up a 9.99% stake in India’s biggest telecom operator – Reliance Jio. The social media giant has invested a whopping $5.7 billion (Rs. 43,574 crores) in the company.
This investmentvalues Reliance Jio at a whopping $65.95 billion (. The telco kicked off its operations less than four years ago. It hasalready surpassedits rivals, Airtel and Vodafone Idea, to take the pole position with over 388 million users. This investment also makes Facebook the biggest minority stakeholder in Reliance Jio.
“This investment underscores our commitment to India and our excitement for the dramatic transformation that Jio has spurred in the country,”said David Fischer, Chief Revenue Officer, and Ajit Mohan, VP and Managing Director, India in a blog post. They further add that the company is“committed to connecting more people in India together with Jio.”
Now, if you are wondering, what this partnership will have in store for us? Facebook has emphasized that its partnership with Jio“will be focused on opening new doors and fueling India’s economic growth and the prosperity of its people.”Both the tech giants will focus on enabling small businesses, which are over 60 billion in number in India, to boost their presence and reach a wider audience. It’s already in theprocess of trainingthem on how to use WhatsApp Business tools.
The official blog post sheds light on one such project, which talks about“bringing togetherJioMart, Jio’s small business initiative, with the power of WhatsApp.”This could mean that JioMart will exist over WhatsApp, enabling users tobrowse productsand buy them from within WhatsApp itself. All of the groceries and food supplies will be sourced from a small business in your locality, thus, building a “seamless mobile experience.”Product Catalog feature in WhatsApp Business
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg,in an official post, also comments on the investment saying that both companies are“committing to work together on some major projects that will open up commerce opportunities for people across India.”
