Amazon offered $20bn stake in Reliance Retail
Amazon has reportedly been offered a $20bn (£15.2bn) stake in Reliance Industries’ retail arm by its owner and Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani.
According to a source cited by Bloomberg, Amazon has held discussions about investing in Reliance Retail Ventures with Ambani reportedly willing to offer as much as a 40% stake in the business.
The Indian energy and technology conglomerates’ retail operations currently operate around 12,000 stores including India’s largest consumer electronics chain store Reliance Digital, clothing and fashion outlets and an online grocery store.
However, Bloomberg also reported that Amazon has yet to make a decision on the size of its investment and that talks could also still break down.
A Reliance spokesperson told bloomberg: “As a policy, we do not comment on media speculation and rumors.”
The news comes a week after it was announced Amazon would be creating 10,000 new permanent roles across the UK, bringing its total full-time UK workforce to more than 40,000.
The company has already added 3,000 permanent jobs across its fulfillment centres, sort centres and delivery stations.
A further 7,000 new roles will be added by the end of 2020 across more than 50 sites, including corporate offices and new fulfillment centres launching in the North East and Midlands.
New positions, ranging from IT professionals to roles in customer shipping, will assist Amazon in meeting increasing consumer demand and enable moderate sized enterprises selling on the service to scale their businesses.
Furthermore, Amazon is creating more than 20,000 seasonal positions across the UK ahead of the festive season in its regional sites and fulfillment centres.
