Flipkart to buy back ESOPs worth Rs 600 cr

Days after revealing that it has secured $3.6 billion (about Rs 26,842 crore) in a funding round from a bunch of global investors, homegrown ecommerce major Flipkart has announced buyback of employee stock ownership plan (ESOPs) worth Rs 600 crore.  

Around 6,000 employees have the option to liquidate up to 10% of their vested ESOPs, Flipkart said.  The Walmart owned company will provide an additional buyback of 5% of all vested options. 

In an email addressed to the employees, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said, “Each of you has played a critical role in helping the company reach this milestone, and the entire management team at Flipkart and Myntra are grateful for your commitment and dedication. As many of you know, it has always been our endeavour to provide our employees with an opportunity to liquidate their vested options regularly. This year we are pleased to announce a buyback of 5% of the past three years’ vested options.”   

“With this landmark event for us, I am happy to share that we are offering our employees an additional buyback of 5% of all vested options as we stay committed to wealth creation for you,” he added.

The latest investment round, which included majority owner Walmart and returning investor SoftBank, pushed Flipkart’s valuation to $37.6 billion post-money.  

Flipkart said that it would use the fresh capital to make ‘deeper investments’ across people, technology, supply chain and infrastructure.     

The development comes at a time when Singapore-incorporated Flipkart is headed for an initial public offering (IPO).  

Brett Biggs, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Walmart, had recently confirmed the company is actively considering an IPO route for Flipkart.

Founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the Flipkart Group includes digital payments platform PhonePe, fashion site Myntra and logistics and delivery service eKart. 

The company claims to more than 350 million registered users and over three lakh sellers on its marketplace. Flipkart also works with more than 1.6 million kiranas through its wholesale business and its last-mile delivery program.