The recent official announcement that social media giant Facebook will be investing ₹43,574 crore for a 9.99% stake in Reliance Jio Platforms has now made Mukesh Ambani the richest person in Asia.
Reliance Industries Limited has announced in a statement that US company will afford the stake worth around 10% of Jio Platforms and as a result of this investment, Mukesh Ambani’s fortune hiked to US$ 49 billion, an increase of US$ 4 billion.
This significant move will make Facebook the largest minority shareholder in Jio and the deal is recognised by ‘Reliance Jio’ as the largest foreign direct investment minority stake by a tech company ever.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index has mentioned on 23 April, as of 11:20 am GMT, Mukesh Ambani was US$ 3 billion well ahead of China’s Jack Ma.
Jack Ma is none other than the founder and the former executive chairman of the Alibaba group.
The ranking alters each day after the trading day closes in the United States. On 21st April, the world’s largest oil refinery owner Ambani’s wealth declined by US$ 14 billion as per the Bloomberg ranking.
It is to be noted that Facebook’s overall investment in Jio’s platforms brings its overall valuation at INR 4.62 lakh crore. It announced in a statement that the main focus of the social media giant will be e-commerce. They plan to merge Jio’s small business initiative with Facebook’s popular texting platform WhatsApp.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in a Facebook post that the social media giant is teaming up with Jio platforms and are committed to working together on some major projects that will open up commerce opportunities for people in India.
“Facebook is teaming up with Jio Platforms – we’re making a financial investment, and more than that, we’re committing to working together on some major projects that will open up commerce opportunities for people across India.”
He also went on to add saying that India is home to the largest communities on Facebook and WhatsApp. “India is home to the largest communities on Facebook and WhatsApp and a lot of talented entrepreneurs. The country is in the middle of a major digital transformation and organisations like Jio have played a big part in getting hundreds of millions of Indians, small businesses online,” Mark Zuckerberg added.
It has been learnt that Jio reportedly had 370 million or 37 crore subscribers in January 2020. The Facebook deal is estimated to be at Rs 43,574 crores for 9.99 per cent (which is almost 10 per cent stake). The total value of Jio according to Facebook is ₹435740 crore.
Jio head Mukesh Ambani added in a statement, “At the core of our partnership is the commitment that Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and I share for the all-round digital transformation of India and for serving all Indians. In the post-Corona era, I am confident of India’s economic recovery and resurgence in the shortest period of time. The partnership will surely make an important contribution to this transformation.”
He further added, “In the very near future, JioMart – Jio’s digital new commerce platform, and WhatsApp – will empower nearly 3 crore small Indian Kirana shops to digitally transact with every customer in their neighbourhood. This means all of you can order and get faster delivery of day-to-day items, from nearby local shops.”