The merry-go-round is finally over; Walmart to buy a majority stake in Flipkart with a little help from Alphabet

Indian online retailer Flipkart's board has approved an agreement to sell an about 75% stake in the company, according to a report from FactorDaily. The merry-go-round of the past couples of months seems to have finally come to an end. Walmart, the US retail conglomerate is spending at least "$14.6 billion in the cash-and-stock buyout". Alphabet, Google's parent company, is also participating in the deal with a $3 billion investment.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy will stay on as the chief executive and other top executives are expected to follow suit. Executive Chairman Sachin Bansal, however, may be on his way out from the company he set up over a decade ago along with Binny Bansal.

Under this deal, SoftBank will be selling its entire 20-plus-percent stake it holds in Flipkart through an investment fund but investors like  Tencent, Microsoft and Tiger Global are not looking to cash out completely.

FactorDaily sources indicated that Walmart has valued Flipkart between $20 and $22 billion. “Everything has been finalized… the papers have been signed by both the parties,” a source told FactorDaily, following the latest round of negotiations. A final deal is expected to be announced within the next 10 days.

The sources further said that Walmart, in its initial stages in India, will focus on the grocery market and that 50% of the initial funding will be fed directly into the food and grocery supply chain. “Cash component will be close to 55%, which will mark the exit of some of the largest investors in Flipkart,” a second source told FactoryDaily.

The deal with Flipkart will see Walmart scoring one over rival Amazon. Amazon has had a number of counter-offers rebuffed by Flipkart's board. Flipkart's board decided that a deal with Walmart is far more likely to win over the necessary regulatory approval. This is simply because Amazon, the no.2 e-commerce operator in the country, will virtually have a monopoly in India if the deal had gone in their favour.

For now, Walmart is n the driver's seat, and unless there are some unforeseen hurdles, Amazon is out of the running.

Amazon has pledged up to $5.5 billion to the country in a bid to outdo Flipkart and the American company had been gaining as of late. Flipkart will benefit most from Walmart's deep pockets.