BENGALURU (Reuters) – Facebook (FB.O) will spend $5.7 billion to take just under 10% of Reliance Industries’ (RELI.NS) digital unit, seeking to roll out services for India’s grocers and other small businesses by capitalising upon WhatsApp’s extensive reach within the country.
FILE PHOTO: A 3D printed Facebook logo is placed between small toy people figures in front of a keyboard in this illustration taken April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The Jio Platforms deal, Facebook’s biggest acquisition since it bought WhatsApp for $22 billion in 2014, will help Reliance slash away at a heavy debt load incurred as it expanded aggressively into telecoms and retail.
Shares in the country’s biggest conglomerate closed 10% up after rising as much as 12% earlier on the news, contributing nearly half the gains on the NSE Nifty 50 index on Wednesday.
The deal is the eighth largest in Asia this year based on transaction value, according to Refinitiv data, and comes at a time…
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