Walmart might announce Flipkart deal by end of week

As the race between Amazon and Walmart has gone on to see who will buy Flipkart, Business of Fashion has reported that Walmart could be coming out on top by the end of this week. If this deal is finalized, it would be the biggest acquisition Walmart has ever made.

Walmart and Google's parent company Alphabet Inc will reportedly buy up to 75 percent of Flipkart. Walmart will get about 60 percent, while Alphabet will get the other 15 for a total price of about 3 billion dollars.

Previously, Reuters reported that Walmart would've acquired 51 percent of Flipkart for between 10 and 12 billion dollars, valuing Flipkart between 18 and 20 billion dollars. The Flipkart Group includes fashion platform Myntra-Jabong, payment unit PhonePe and logistics firm Ekart.

The company was originally founded in 2007 by Sachin and Binny Bansal, two former Amazon Inc. employees. They too began selling books, just like Amazon. Allegedly, founding partner Sachin Bansal will exit once the deal is finalized. So far, it looks like Binny Bansal will remain as the group's chief executive. Upon the deal, Walmart is reported to be getting three seats on Flipkarts board and will have a say in the appointment's of the group's finance, legal and compliance heads.

Tiger Global and venture fund Accel are expected to sell a majority of their stakes. Japan's SoftBank Group, which owns a fifth of Flipkart through their Vision Fund, will be exiting the company completely.

Flipkart is expected to announce the deal to its employees in a townhall style meeting on Friday.

Walmart, Tiger Global, Accel, and Flipkart were not immediately available for further comment.