May 2, 2018 / 8:21 AM / a minute ago

Amazon offers to buy 60 percent stake in Flipkart: CNBC-TV18

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has made a formal offer to buy a 60 percent stake in Indian online retailer Flipkart, CNBC-TV18 reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is pictured inside the company's office in Bengaluru, India, April 20, 2018. REUTERS/Abhishek N. Chinnappa/File Photo

Amazon also offered Flipkart a breakup fee of $2 billion, the TV channel reported. Amazon's bid is likely to be on par with Walmart Inc's bid for the Indian e-commerce company, CNBC-TV18 reported bit.ly/2jo03py.

Flipkart’s investors and founders are in favor of the deal with Walmart, with founder Sachin Bansal overseeing final negotiations with Walmart, CNBC-TV18 said.

Amazon is also seeking a non-compete agreement with Flipkart’s founders, the report added.

Reuters in April reported that Walmart was likely to reach a deal to buy a majority stake in Flipkart by the end of June.

A deal with Flipkart would step up the Walmart-Amazon battle for a bigger share of India’s fledgling e-commerce market, which Morgan Stanley estimates will be worth $200 billion in a decade.

The Walmart global team may come to India soon to close the deal, the report added.

A spokesman for Walmart declined to comment, while Amazon said it does not offer comments on rumours and speculation.

Flipkart did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru and Sankalp Phartiyal in Mumbai; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Muralikumar Anantharaman