Facebook, for $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore), has bought a 9.99 percent stake in Reliance Jio - the telecom unit of Reliance Industries (RIL) in a multibillion-dollar deal that gives the social media giant a firm foothold in a fast-growing massive market.
The world’s largest social media company announced the purchase of 9.99 percent of the heavily indebted Jio, whose cut-price mobile internet service has attracted 388m Indian users since its birth in 2016.
The investment by Facebook values Jio Platforms at Rs 4.62 trillion pre-money enterprise value ($65.95 billion, assuming a conversion rate of Rs 70 to a US Dollar).
Reliance Jio, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has been the fastest-growing telecom network in the country since its launch in 2016. Jio has more than 388 million customers in India.
They account for the majority of jobs in the country and form the heart and soul of rural and urban communities alike. In the face of the coronavirus, it is important that we both combat this global pandemic now, and lay the groundwork to help people and businesses in the years to come."
Jio has built digital platform powered by technologies such as broadband connectivity, smart devices, cloud and edge computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, internet of things, augmented and mixed reality and blockchain.