Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)‘s share jumped 8.3 per cent in early deals on Wednesday after the company announced a stake sale of its digital business to Facebook Inc.
At 10:21 am, shares of Reliance Industries traded at Rs 1,318.15, up 6.64 per cent on the BSE.
Facebook will buy 9.99 per cent equity stake in Jio Platform, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, on a fully diluted basis. ‘Reliance Industries Limited, Jio Platforms Limited and Facebook, Inc today announced the signing of binding agreements for an investment of Rs 43,574 crore by Facebook into Jio Platforms. This investment by Facebook values Jio Platforms at Rs 4.62 lakh crore pre-money enterprise value ($65.95 billion, assuming a conversion rate of Rs 70 to a US dollar,’ said a statement from RIL. Concurrent with the investment, Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail Limited and WhatsApp have also entered into a commercial partnership agreement to accelerate Reliance Retail’s JioMart platform by connecting nearby ‘kirana’ shops to customers, enabling home delivery over Jio’s mobile interface.
‘The companies will work closely to ensure that consumers are able to access the nearest kiranas who can provide products and services to their homes by transacting seamlessly with JioMart using WhatsApp,’ it said.
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