Facebook invests Rs 43,474 cr for 9.99% stake in Reliance Jio

The world’s largest social media company Facebook has announced an investment of Rs 43, 574 crores ($5.7 billion) for a 9.99% stake in Reliance Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of India’s most valued firm, Reliance Industries. The company is the biggest telecom operator in the country with more than 370 million subscribers.

This investment by Facebook puts Jio Platforms at ₹ 4.62 lakh crore of pre-money enterprise value ($65.95 billion, assuming a conversion rate of ₹ 70 to a US Dollar). Facebook’s investment will translate into a 9.99% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis, and makes Facebook the largest minority shareholder in the Indian telecom network.

Notably, the 9.99% stake is in “Jio Platforms” which looks to be a digital service that Reliance Jio will build with the help of Facebook. While the deal will have many long-term goals and implications, which we will get to in a bit, the immediate effect will be the introduction of JioMart services on WhatsApp. 

“We’re making a financial investment, and more than that, we’re committing to work together on some major projects that will open up c