Microsoft to lead fresh wave of investor raid on Jio Platforms: report

A report in The Mint newspaper, citing sources, said Microsoft is in talks to acquire more than 2.5 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for $2 billion. However, the report said the deal is in the early stages and many details are yet to be finalised. 

If a deal is struck, Microsoft will be the third-largest investor in Jio Platforms, after Reliance Industries and Facebook.

Abu Dhabi-based sovereign fund manager Mubadala is reported to be in talks for a potential investment of about $1 billion in Jio Platforms Ltd.

Jio so far has received investments to the tune of $12.3 billion from the likes of Facebook, KKR and Vista Equity Partners.

Microsoft had initiated a tie-up with Jio under which the US technology giant was looking to boost adoption of cloud computing by small and medium businesses in India. Under the partnership formulated in August 2019, Microsoft and Reliance were to offer free Jio connectivity and Microsoft Azure cloud services to tech startups and small and medium businesses in India by 2021. 

The partnership was to support the government’s plan to accelerate digitisation of the Indian economy through cloud-based services among businesses.

Jio Platforms, which runs Reliance Jio, Jio Fiber, MyJio, JioTV, JioCinema, Jio Mart JioNews, JioSaavn and other services, is also looking to launch an overseas IPO in the near future, according to a report in The Mint.

At the time, Reliance had said that it would offer Microsoft Office 365 productivity suite and email exchange server support to startups. Besides this, the company said it would build new custom solutions on Microsoft Azure for large enterprises as well in advanced technologies such as data analytics, AI, cognitive services, blockchain, IoT and edge computing.

So far, Reliance Jio Platforms has sold a 9.9 per cent stake to Facebook for $5.7 billion (Rs43,574 crore), 2.32 per cent each to KKR and Vista Equity partners for $1.5 billion (Rs11,367 crore) each and a smaller stake to Silver Lake and General Atlantic against investments of $746 million (Rs5,655 crore) and $869 million (Rs6,600 crore), respectively.  

RIL is also said to be in talks with Saudi Arabia’s $320 billion sovereign wealth fund for a potential investment in exchange for minority stake.

Chairman Mukesh Ambani is said to be in discussions with banks for an overseas listing of Jio Platforms. However, the stock exchange for the listing hasn’t been decided yet. The company is planning to list itself over the next 12 to 24 months, but no final decision has been taken on the timeline and size of the listing.