Facebook's $5.7 billion investment in Reliance Jio: All you need to know

On Wednesday, US tech giant Facebook announced that it would invest $5.7 billion (Rs 43,547 crores) in RIL's wholly-owned subsidiary Jio Platforms to expand its presence in India. With this investment, Facebook will own 9.9 per cent stake in Jio Platforms. This would be Facebook's biggest minority shareholding ever.
 

Reliance Jio, a part of Jio Platforms, has been the fastest-growing telecom network in the country since its launch in 2016. Jio has more than 388 million customers in India.
 

After the announcement, in early morning trade, shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) gained 7 per cent at Rs 1,326 on the BSE and with today’s gain, the stock of RIL has rallied 14 per cent from its Tuesday’s low of Rs 1,164.
 

In a press release shared by the company, it says, "This investment by Facebook values Jio Platforms at Rs 4.62 trillion pre-money enterprise values ($65.95 billion, assuming a conversion rate of Rs 70 to a US Dollar). Facebook’s investment will translate into a 9.99 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis," it added.
 

Besides, the company also mentioned that its goal is to enable new opportunities for businesses of all sizes, but especially for the more than 60 million small businesses across India.
 

In view of this investment, Facebook said that its focus would be to create ways for people and businesses to operate more effectively in a digitally growing economy.
 

Facebook also owns WhatsApp and Instagram.
 

Analysts believe even though Facebook may have picked 9.99 per cent stake in RJio, Bharti Airtel remains a ‘direct way’ to play the changing fortunes of the Indian telecom sector. That said, the Facebook-Reliance deal lends confidence in the Indian telecom sector and paves the way for RIL to become a net debt-free company by 2021, they say.

To know more, tune in to this podcast