Ambani’s Reliance offers Amazon $20 billion stake in retail arm

According to the sources, Reliance Industries is offering to sell a roughly $20 billion stake in its retail arm to Amazon.com Inc. The giant billionaire, Mukesh Ambani has already raised $20 billion this year from investors including Facebook and Google and now is willing to sell up to 40% stake in the retail business to Amazon. Both the companies have not confirmed it officially. It seems that Asia's richest man, Ambani is turning his focus toward retail after successfully building India's top telecom network by customers in less than four years, hoping to take a dominant position as India's huge consumer market comes of age. Amazon has held talks about investing in Reliance Retail and expressed interest in negotiating potential deals but has made no decision. Reliance Retail, with close to 12,000 stores selling a wide range of products, acquired rival Future Group's retail arm last month and on Wednesday announced a $1 billion investment from Silver Lake Partners. Also Read | Japan official says Olympics must be held next year "at any cost" Shares in Reliance were up 6.2% in midday trading in Mumbai after hitting a record intraday high. The company became the first listed Indian firm to cross $200 billion in market capitalization. -PTC News