Bharti Airtel clarifies on reports of Amazon in talks to buy stake in company

Bharti Airtel today issued a clarification on reports that citing sources said that Amazon is in talks to buy a stake in the telecom company for at least $2 billion. Bharti Airtel said in a statement said at this stage, "no such proposal in consideration", referring to the report as “speculative.”

Over the past six weeks, Jio, the digital arm of Reliance Industries, has raised ₹87,655 crore from global investors including Facebook as it seeks to establish itself as a one-stop digital commerce platform.

Jio Platforms has raised ₹87,655 crore from leading global technology and growth investors including Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala in less than six weeks.

Jio today announced that Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investor Mubadala will invest ₹9,093 crore in Jio Platforms at an equity value of ₹4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of ₹5.16 lakh crore. Mubadala’s investment will translate into a 1.85% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis.

Alphabet Inc's Google is also exploring an investment in Vodafone Idea, a joint venture between Britain's Vodafone Group Plc and India's Idea Cellular, the Financial Times reported last week.

Full text of Bharti Airtel's clarification issued to stock exchanges

"This is with reference to the news item titled ‘Amazon in talks to buy $2 Bn. stake in Indian telco Bharti Airtel’ published in media on June 04, 2020. In this regard, it is clarified the Company routinely works with all digital and OTT players and has deep engagement with them to bring their products, content and services for our wide customer base. Beyond that, there is, at this stage, no such proposal in consideration."

"We are concerned with such media reports which are published despite appropriate timely clarifications by the respective companies. Such speculative reporting while moving the stock price leads to unwarranted consequences and can result in reputational impact. We urge you to take adequate steps to deal with such practices which of late have become a regular pattern especially in the telecom sector."

(With Agency Inputs)