Fidelity joins Morgan Stanley, cuts Flipkart’s valuation to $6 billion

Photo credit: Mike Poresky.

A fund managed by US-based mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments has cut Flipkart’s valuation, pegging the company at around US$6 billion, filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed.

This is the latest in a series of valuation markdowns that India’s biggest ecommerce company has seen over the past year. In November 2016, Morgan Stanley had pegged Flipkart’s valuation at US$6 billion, which is in sync with Fidelity’s latest assessment.

See: Flipkart now worth just $6b, says Morgan Stanley

These valuations are a huge change from the US$15 billion that Flipkart was once thought to be worth.

The Fidelity fund, which holds 52,096 shares in Flipkart, marked down the company’s shares by 36 percent to US$52.13 per share as on November 30, 2016, the filings showed. That is down from down from US$81.55 per share as of August 2016.

Flipkart did not comment on the markdown.

Flipkart is just emerging from a tough 2016, under the leadership of new CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy. Kalyan is thought to be Tiger Global’s man in the company, sent in expressly to clean house and set its affairs in order. The company continues to see senior executives quitting, even as it tries out new things like launching private label businesses, or getting into new categories like groceries and furniture.

See: Flipkart has a bold new plan – and it’s one that’ll keep the government happy

A recent report said Amazon still plays second fiddle to Flipkart in the country, which has been ranked number one for the fourth straight quarter in 2016.

Despite that, Bangalore’s startup industry is abuzz with talks that Flipkart is finding it hard to raise a fresh round of funding at its desired valuation, as chief mentor Tiger Global refuses to lead further rounds in the company.

There have been reports last year that a potential investment deal with retail giant Walmart may have run into trouble.