Facebook seals biggest deal since WhatsApp with Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man

The world’s largest social media company will pay US$5.7 billion for a 10 per cent stake in Jio Platforms, a unit of India’s Reliance Industries

The deal would allow Facebook to step up its expansion in a country that is rapidly embracing online payment and e-commerce

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A visitor passes a mural depicting various social media sites logos, including Facebook, inside a building in Bangalore, India. Facebook’s US$5.7 billion stake in the Jio Platforms unit of Reliance Industries marks one of the biggest foreign investments in the country. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Published: 10:02pm, 22 Apr 2020Updated: 9:00am, 23 Apr 2020

Facebook will invest US$5.7 billion in the digital assets controlled by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, marking the social networking giant’s biggest deal since its 2014 purchase of WhatsApp as it seeks a broader foothold in its biggest global market.

Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, will buy about 10 per cent of Jio Platforms, becoming the largest minority shareholder of the Indian firm, Ambani’s Reliance Industries said in a statement on Wednesday.

Separately, Facebook said the deal would bring together JioMart, an e-commerce venture of Ambani, and its WhatsApp platform to enable people to connect with businesses.

Shares of Reliance Industries jumped 10 per cent on Wednesday in Mumbai, helping the Indian tycoon reclaim the title of Asia’s wealthiest person from Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma. The rally compares with the 2.4 per cent gain in India’s benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index. Alibaba is the parent firm of the South China Morning Post.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, with his wife Neeta Ambani arriving for the company’s annual general meeting in Mumbai, India, last August. Photo: AP

Jio Platforms, a wholly owned unit of Reliance Industries, brings together Jio’s digital apps, ecosystems and the wireless platform offered by telecommunications carrier Reliance Jio Infocomm under one umbrella, according to the Mumbai-based company. The deal values Jio Platforms at a pre-money enterprise value of about US$66 billion, the Indian company said.