Flipkart's biggest investor also backs rival Amazon
Amazon, which counts India as its fastest growing market, has enticed Flipkart's largest shareholder, Tiger Global Management, to significantly increase its stake in the US listed e-tailer.
The investment vehicles in each case are different entities of Tiger Global, but the investments are a measure of how much upside the New York-based firm sees in global e-commerce. Interestingly, Tiger's increased exposure to Amazon also comes at a time when the Jeff Bezos-led e-commerce powerhouse is narrowing its gap with Flipkart in India.
A report in Business Insider, citing data from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said that Tiger Global recently bought 2.44 million shares of Amazon Inc, taking its total holding in the $90-billion US e-commerce giant to more than 3.19 million shares as of the September quarter.
The report said that Tiger Global's stake in Amazon, its second largest US stock holding, was valued at $1.64 billion at the end of September and almost $2.1 billion at current share price. Tiger Global is an investment firm with two businesses - private equity and a public equity (hedge fund) business. The investment in Flipkart is by the former and that in Amazon is by the latter.
Tiger Global has a 28 per cent stake in India's e-commerce poster-boy. The firm has participated in every fund-raising round of Flipkart's, pumping in over $1 billion. Flipkart has raised about $2.6 billion in the last 24 months, and over $3.2 billion since inception.
The lowest price of Amazon's share during the September quarter was $437.39, indicating that Tiger had to spend at least $1.1 billion for its latest share purchase. In other words, Tiger Global has invested over $1 billion in just three months in Amazon, and a similar amount in Flipkart over the years. Tiger's partner and private equity co-head Lee Fixel has been a hands-on investor in Flipkart, turning his big bet on Flipkart into a high stakes game for his firm, besides inspiring a slew of Wall Street investors on to early-stage investing in Indian e-commerce startups.
"It's not a conflict of interest and could be a short- to medium-term strategy for the hedge fund major. Unlike Amazon, they have management control in Flipkart and that is the key difference. However, it would be interesting to see how long they hold on to their shares in Amazon," said Harish V, partner at consultancy firm Grant Thornton.
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Amazon, which counts India as its fastest growing market, has enticed Flipkart's largest shareholder, Tiger Global Management, to significantly increase its stake in the US listed e-tailer.
The investment vehicles in each case are different entities of Tiger Global, but the investments are a measure of how much upside the New York-based firm sees in global e-commerce. Interestingly, Tiger's increased exposure to Amazon also comes at a time when the Jeff Bezos-led e-commerce powerhouse is narrowing its gap with Flipkart in India.
A report in Business Insider, citing data from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said that Tiger Global recently bought 2.44 million shares of Amazon Inc, taking its total holding in the $90-billion US e-commerce giant to more than 3.19 million shares as of the September quarter.
The report said that Tiger Global's stake in Amazon, its second largest US stock holding, was valued at $1.64 billion at the end of September and almost $2.1 billion at current share price. Tiger Global is an investment firm with two businesses - private equity and a public equity (hedge fund) business. The investment in Flipkart is by the former and that in Amazon is by the latter.
Tiger Global has a 28 per cent stake in India's e-commerce poster-boy. The firm has participated in every fund-raising round of Flipkart's, pumping in over $1 billion. Flipkart has raised about $2.6 billion in the last 24 months, and over $3.2 billion since inception.
The lowest price of Amazon's share during the September quarter was $437.39, indicating that Tiger had to spend at least $1.1 billion for its latest share purchase. In other words, Tiger Global has invested over $1 billion in just three months in Amazon, and a similar amount in Flipkart over the years. Tiger's partner and private equity co-head Lee Fixel has been a hands-on investor in Flipkart, turning his big bet on Flipkart into a high stakes game for his firm, besides inspiring a slew of Wall Street investors on to early-stage investing in Indian e-commerce startups.
"It's not a conflict of interest and could be a short- to medium-term strategy for the hedge fund major. Unlike Amazon, they have management control in Flipkart and that is the key difference. However, it would be interesting to see how long they hold on to their shares in Amazon," said Harish V, partner at consultancy firm Grant Thornton.
Ab Tera kya hoga SnapDeal:lol
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