A group of former Flipkart executives is urging parent Walmart Inc. to buy out their stock options, seeking to cash in while the US retailer weighs options including a separate listing for the India e-commerce operator.
With no visibility regarding the timing of any Flipkart initial public offering, the group of eight former C-suite and senior executives said a purchase of their shares by Walmart would allow them to liquidate their holdings. The former executives appealed to Walmart's board in a letter seen by Bloomberg News and earlier reported by the Economic Times.
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Flipkart, the e-commerce leader in India, has been preparing for a stock market debut for some years, including by shifting its incorporation to India from Singapore this year and planning to start the process for banks to pitch for its IPO. Yet those plans have since been deferred with no clear timeline for a listing, according to people familiar with the matter.
“Many of us joined the company during its earlier, more uncertain years, when the future value of these options was far from certain. We accepted the risk and opportunity associated with equity compensation and continued to hold our interests long after leaving the organisation,” the former executives said in the letter. “We therefore request that Walmart gives a complete exit opportunity to all eligible former employees holding vested options.”
The ex-employees said they've held the stock options for as many as 15 years in some cases. Current Flipkart employees were offered the opportunity this year to sell stock options, the group said.
Flipkart was founded in Bangalore in 2007 by two former Amazon.com Inc. engineers, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (who are not related). Just like Amazon, they began by selling books online before expanding to more expensive products such as electronics and smartphones.
In 2018, Walmart acquired a controlling stake in the company for $16 billion — its biggest-ever deal, bringing its high-stakes battle for online retail supremacy with Amazon to India. Sachin sold off his entire stake to Walmart and left. Binny too exited within months, and sold off his remaining shares by 2023.
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Flipkart has said that its priority is to serve customers, and that an IPO is a target for the company.
“An IPO remains an active part of our strategic roadmap, and we will move forward when the timing is right,” Flipkart and Walmart said in a joint statement last month. “By focusing on readiness today, we can ensure that when we are ready to make our public debut, we do so from a position of clear operational and financial strength.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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