The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has granted approval to Google parent Alphabet’s arm Shoreline International Holdings LLC to acquire a stake in Walmart group firm Flipkart. The proposed transaction comprises investment through subscription of shares of Flipkart Private Limited by Shoreline International Holdings LLC; and an arrangement between an affiliate of Alphabet and Flipkart’s subsidiary for the provision of certain services.
Shoreline International Holding is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Google’s parent firm Alphabet Inc. It is a holding company and does not own or operate any Google products or services, CCI said in its order.
What the CCI order on Alphabet investment in Flipkart says
“Flipkart is a subsidiary of Walmart Inc and ultimately belongs to the Walmart Group. It is primarily engaged in the business of wholesale cash and carry of goods and providing marketplace-based e-commerce platforms to facilitate trade between customers and sellers in India,” reads the CCI order.
Google’s investment in Flipkart is part of a nearly $1 billion funding round that the company closed in May this year. This includes $350 million from Alphabet’s Google. The funding valued Flipkart at $35-36 billion. The deal had been awaiting approval since May this year. Flipkart at that time said that the investment is subject to regulatory and customary approvals from both parties.
US retail giant Walmart, which holds an 85 per cent holding in Flipkart, has invested $600 million in the fundraise that kicked off in 2023.
In its order, the CCI said that Google’s investment in Flipkart involved “an extremely small and non-controlling acquisition of shareholding” and that the two parties would continue operating independently after the transaction.
“Nonetheless, if the Hon’ble Commission were to assess competitive effects, its assessment should only focus on the markets that are directly implicated by the proposed transaction i.e., the market for cloud services in India,” it said in the order.