Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal may quit as Walmart warms up to takeover

In the wake of global retail giant Walmart eyeing a majority stake in Flipkart, co-owner Sachin Bansal may exit the Indian e-commerce venture, reports suggest.

Bansal, along with Binny Bansal, started Flipkart almost over a decade ago in 2007.

The final word on Sachin’s exit will be announced in the coming week after the company decides the course of action with respect to the Walmart deal.

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According to reports, the Bansal duo is desired to stay back in the top management rung by Walmart. Sachin had been the longest-serving CEO of the company until 2016.

Meanwhile, global e-commerce giant Amazon Inc has also made a formal offer to buy a 60 per cent stake in Flipkart, a move that threatens to complicate Walmart Inc's bid.

Walmart was likely to reach with a deal to buy a majority stake in Flipkart by the end of June this year. The deal, if materialises, would be Walmart's biggest acquisition of an online business.

The acquisition will put Walmart and Amazon -- two multinational e-commerce giants -- at loggerheads in the Indiane-commerce space that is estimated to worth $200 billion a year within a decade.

The deal will also translate into a cornered and more diluted Indian hold on the majority of e-commerce business in the country.

With the deal likely to be signed as early as next week, the Walmart-Flipkart deal will most likely involve the former buying a controlling stake of around 55 per cent in the Bengaluru-based company.

Walmart has been on an acquisition spree to strengthen its online presence. It bought Amazon's competitor Jet.com for $3.3 billion in 2016.