Facebook has recently purchased a stake within Jio Platforms. The stake itself was worth $5.7 billion and attributed to the purchase of 9.99% of the company. With this purchase, it stands as one of the largest deals Facebook has ever done.
Massive Valuation For Indian Company
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) was the company that made the public announcement. It is stated that Jio Platforms Limited, Facebook Inc, and RIL itself has signed a binding agreement. The agreement was for an Rs43,574 crore (About $5.7 billion) by Facebook for the almost 10% stake within Jio Platforms.
With this deal finished, Jio Platforms has been valued at $65.95 billion. Jio Platforms stands as a telecom and digital unit controlled by one Mukesh Ambani. Ambani stands as the richest man in India.
A Small History
Within this investment, Jio Platforms will retain $1.95 billion. The rest of the investment will then be used to redeem the optionally convertible preference shares that RIL holds.
Jio established itself as the Telecom arm of RIL, managing to disrupt the Indian telecom markets through its cheap internet data-model. It’s no surprise that the unit managed to gain 388 million subscribers as a result. However, the overreaching aim of the company is to become a wide digital platform. This becomes clear when one looks at Jio’s doctrine of constant expansion within other digital subsidiaries.
The Mandatory Public Statements
Mukesh Ambani stands as the Chairman and Managing Director of RIL. He gave a public statement in regards to this new acquisition. Mukesh explained that the core of the partnership between himself and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is one and the same. According to Ambani, both parties desire an overall digital transformation within India and providing its services to all Indians within the country.
Mark Zuckerberg gave a public statement, as well. Within it, he stressed the importance of doing so within this trying time. He described small businesses as the core facet of every economy and claims that they need the support of his company. Zuckerberg stated that there were a total of over 60 million small businesses within India, with millions of people relying on it for jobs.
Reasons For Everything
It comes as no surprise that this isn’t an ungrounded acquisition for Facebook. India stands as one of the key markets for Facebook’s social media platform. Furthermore, the media giant’s messaging arm, WhatsApp, has a significant presence within the country. Facebook garners 328 million users, with WhatsApp managing to accrue 400 million both measured on a monthly basis.
