The e commerce deal between Flipkart and Snapdeal has been officially called off. Snapdeal has stated it has decided to pursue an independent path and as a result it is terminating all strategic discussions.
SoftBank, the largest shareholder of Snapdeal has been trying to sell the e commerce marketplace to Flipkart for the past six months.
As per the reports, it was in talks to sell its e commerce marketplace business to Flipkart for around $850 million.
“Snapdeal has been exploring strategic options over the last few months. The company has now decided to pursue an independent path and is terminating all the strategic discussions as a result,” Snapdeal’s spokesperson said.
The company says that it has a unique direction, which is Snapdeal 2.0.
“We have a new and compelling direction – Snapdeal 2.0 – that uniquely gives this vision, and have made significant progress towards the ability to execute this by achieving a gross profit this month. In addition, with the sale of certain non core assets, Snapdeal is expected to be financially self sustainable. We look forward to the support of our community, including employees, sellers, buyers and other stakeholders in helping us create a designed for India commerce platform,” Snapdeal’s spokesperson explained.
According to a popular news channel, SoftBank is supporting the co founders of Snapdeal in this decision.
“We respect the decision to pursue an independent strategy. We look forward to the results of the Snapdeal 2.0 strategy, and to remain in the vibrant Indian e commerce space,” a SoftBank spokesperson said.
Ever since SoftBank arranged the sale between the two e commerce marketplaces, the deal was faced with a lot of challenges.
Last week, Snapdeal sold FreeCharge (e commerce website) to Axis Bank for Rs. 385 crores. It is now in talks with many logistics players to acquire Vulcan express (a logistics firm) for Rs. 100-120 crores.
