Microsoft could invest $2 billion in Reliance’s Jio platforms: Report

Reliance may bag another big investment for its Jio platforms. According to a Livemint report, Microsoft is negotiating an investment, estimated to be worth $2 billion, for the Jio platforms.

Reliance just last week announced it had raised ₹11,367 crore investment from the US equity firm KKR. Before this, Reliance has raised big investments from Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity, and General Atlantic.

“Microsoft has been in discussions with several players in the digital payments services space. With Reliance, Microsoft is interested in buying a more than a 2.5% stake in Jio Platforms,” Livemint quotes a source as saying.

According to the report, there’s no guarantee the investment will go through though Microsoft has shown an interest in buying a stake.

It is worth noting that Microsoft and Reliance are already long-term cloud partners. Microsoft is also working with Reliance Jio to bring its xCloud gaming platform to India.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, during an event in Mumbai earlier this year, reiterated the importance of partnership with Reliance Jio.

“We’ve been working with Reliance across the entire stack - everything from what they are going to be doing with Azure in their own data centres and how they will extend it,” Nadella had said.

Separately, Bharti Telecom, the promoter company of Bharti Airtel, raised more than $1.15 billion through accelerated book-build offer of Bharti Airtel shares. Airtel will use the money to clear the debts.