Walmart Inc. is likely to reach a deal to buy a majority stake in Indian e-commerce player Flipkart by the end of June in what could be the US retail giant's biggest acquisition of an online business, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Reuters reported last week that Walmart completed its due diligence on Flipkart and had made a proposal to buy 51% or more of the Indian company for between $10 billion to $12
billion.
A deal with Flipkart would step up Walmart's battle with Amazon.com for a bigger share of India's fledgling e-commerce market, which Morgan Stanley estimates will be worth
$200 billion in a decade. Local media have reported that Amazon is exploring a possible counter offer for Flipkart.
