Microsoft Corp. has been under negotiations for an investment of up to US$2 billion into Jio Platforms Ltd, the company of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani. The latter falls under the digital unit of the most valued company in India.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Microsoft has been involved in talks with many firms in the digital payment services space. Microsoft has been showing an interest in purchasing over a 2.5% stake in the Jio Platforms.

Apparently, if the negotiations turn out to be successful, the most valued firm in the world will be getting a small part of Jio Platforms, that has managed to already attract investments valued at around $10 billion within a span of a month, from a line of investors that include KKR & Co., Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, Facebook Inc., and Silver Lake.

Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft stated that the firm has built a partnership with Reliance Jio. Under the terms of the deal,  Reliance Jio has been planning to set up various data centers in the country and use the cloud services of Microsoft Azure for its enterprise clients.

A number of foreign investors have been seeking to buy a stake in Jio Platforms as they have been wishing to tap the increasingly growing digital market in India.

Reportedly, Jio Platform tends to combine every telecom and digital initiatives of Reliance that also include apps, Jio digital services like broadband and mobile, tech capabilities such as Big Data, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things as well as other investments like Hathway Cable, Datacom Ltd. and Den Networks.

The latest investment in the Jio Platform had been by KKR as the company had agreed to pay about INT 11,367 crores for a 2.32% stake, making it KKR’s largest investment in Asia till now.

Source Credit- https://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/now-microsoft-eyes-stake-in-jio/story-AFLHYwozmBPB0L6Y3ffzyI.html