The antitrust watchdog is reviewing Facebook’s purchase of a 10 per cent stake in Reliance Industries’ (RIL) digital assets, a deal that would give the US giant another foothold in one of the world’s fastest growing internet markets.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) looks to prevent misuse of data in all the deals it assesses, Chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta said in an email interview, declining to comment further on the Facebook-Jio transaction pending examination. The regulator is also considering whether new parameters should be included in its assessment criteria. “Currently, some mergers and acquisitions escape the threshold for scrutiny even if potential harm is evident,” Gupta said.
Mark Zuckerberg led Facebook Inc. has agreed to buy 9.99% stake in Mukesh Ambani led Jio Platforms Limited (JPL) for ₹43,574 crore, valuing the company at ₹4.62 lakh crore pre-money enterprise value ($65.95 billion, assuming a conversion rate of ₹70 to a U.S. Dollar).
Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, is a next-generation technology company building a digital society for India by bringing together Jio’s leading digital apps, digital ecosystems and India’s first high speed connectivity platform under one umbrella.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, which provides connectivity platform to over 388 million subscribers, will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms.
