Reliance Jio in talks with Facebook to build a ‘super app’ similar to China’s WeChat: Report

In 2015, WeChat platform was valued at $83.5 bn & Tencent had reached $500 billion in market capitalization, surpassing the value of Facebook!

And presently,

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited & Mark Zuckerberg led Facebook are in talks to create a multipurpose, ‘super’ app, similar to Chinese super-app, WeChat

By leveraging the user base & #data from WhatsApp Inc., Facebook & Reliance plan out to expand the new super app by bringing in funding, technical know how & domain expertise for the project

Monthly active User base (2019):

WeChat~ 1 Bn, 6% increase YoY

Whatsapp~ 1.5 Bn, 9% increase YoY

The new app will not just be a communication platform but the one where users could buy groceries through Reliance Retail, or shop at AJIO.com, or make payments using JioMoney

Morgan Stanley has been appointed for the due diligence. Due to #covid, process is going slow

The deal is a win-win where Facebook gets RIL’s #consumer biz to engage with users & RIL gets insights on user spending habits

Facebook is eyeing a multibillion-dollar stake. It could even pick up 10% in Reliance Jio for “billions of dollars”. Proud to see an Indian conglomerate’ arm in demand!

The new app is the way the partnership could be formed, do you think this will work long term?

Via: Radhika