New Delhi: Reliance Industries Limited has acquired a 9.9% stake in Jio, the telecom unit of the Reliance Industries Limited. The deal is worth Rs 43,574 crore. With this, Facebook became Jio’s largest minority shareholder. According to the agreement, Jio is worth Rs 4.62 lakh crore.
Facebook said it would focus on partnering with Reliance’s e-commerce initiative Geomart to enable customers to connect with small businesses. The deal comes at a time when Facebook’s proprietor WhatsApp has been cleared to offer digital payment services in India to compete with Google Pay and PayTM. WhatsApp, India’s largest market, has 400 million users.
This is the largest investment a technology company in the world makes for minority stock. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement that Jio’s influence will strengthen new initiatives and is committed to connecting more people with Jio.