Walmart-Flipkart deal: 10 things to know about Indian e-commerce major

This photo taken on May 8, 2018 shows the logo of e-commerce company Flipkart at its headquarters in Bangalore. US retail behemoth Walmart is expected to announce May 9 that it is to buy a majority stake in India's largest e-commerce company Flipkart for around $15 billion. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon arrived in Bangalore, the Flipkart headquarters, to announce the deal which media reports said would see the American firm acquire around 70 percent of the Indian e-tailer. / AFP PHOTO / -

NEW DELHI: In a mega deal in India's e-commerce space, the world's retail giant, Walmart Inc, on Wednesday announced it was buying 77 per cent equity stake in the country's largest e-tailor Flipkart for USD 16 billion (approx 1.07 lakh crore).

• Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (not related) set up Flipkart in 2007 in Bengaluru. The duo met in 2005 at IIT-Delhi and had also worked at Amazon. Flipkart started as an online books selling platform.
• The first book sells on Flipkart's platform - John Wood's 'Leaving Microsoft to Change the World'. Flipkart registered 20 shipments in the year of its debut.
• Flipkart hires its first full-time employee, Ambur Iyyappa.
• In October 2009, Accel Partners comes on board as an investor pumping in USD 1 million. Just months later, US hedge fund Tiger Global joins Accel to invest USD 10 million. Flipkart has raised USD 1.4 billion from Tencent, eBay and Microsoft, while SoftBank Vision Fund added USD 2.5 billion to its kitty last year.
• Flipkart registers in Singapore in 2011.
• In 2010, Flipkart pioneers 'Cash on Delivery' in India, changing the way India shops online.
• Flipkart has acquired companies like WeRead, Letsbuy, FX Mart, fashion e-tail player Myntra and UPI-based payments startup PhonePe. It also bought majority stake in companies like Jeeves and ngpay.
• 2017 turns out to be a watershed year for Flipkart as company crosses the 100 million registered users mark. Today, it has over one lakh registered sellers and 21 warehouses.
• The company undergoes management rejig. Former Tiger Global executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy comes in as Flipkart CEO. Co-founder Binny Bansal is made Group CEO, while Sachin Bansal continues as Chairman.
• Flipkart offers to buy Snapdeal but the deal fails to fructify after the smaller rival decides to chart independent course. Flipkart buys back shares worth USD 350 million from investors as a precursor to the mega deal with Walmart.

(With inputs from PTI)