Walmart-Flipkart deal: Even as the giants shake hands, it's business as usual for Flipsters

It's 4:30 in the evening.

Thousands of employees across multiple locations in the country are excited to hear about it from the horse's mouth, after having heard and read about the much-talked about deal in newspapers and television.

US-based retail giant Walmart has finally announced that it will acquire 77 per cent stake in domestic e-commerce firm Flipkart for USD 16 billion.

A town hall starts at the newly acquired campus of Flipkart at the Embassy Tech Village in Bengaluru.

While employees on this campus get to hear the founders live, others from Myntra and Jabong — which are group companies of Flipkart — join the town hall via video conferencing.

Also read: Walmart buys 77% of Flipkart for $16 bn; global retail giant to bring in fresh equity of $2 bn

Half an hour into the meeting, people can be seen coming out of their respective towers, all excited.

Flipsters (as the company likes to call its employees) can be seen laughing and cracking jokes. The conversation is about the stakes and of course the billions of dollars made by founder Sachin Bansal and many of the investors.

"Think about what all can they buy," exclaims a young executive while the others animatedly agree.

Also read: Why Walmart is investing in loss-making Flipkart

As part of the deal, co-founder and executive chairman Sachin Bansal exited the firm completely, selling his 5.5 per cent stake. It would amount to about USD 1 billion.

Binny Bansal will sell about 10 per cent of his current holdings, lowering his stake to about 4.5 per cent, according to sources privy to Moneycontrol.

Suddenly, the group of young executives bump into their manager. They catch hold of him and congratulate him. The executive greets them back.

Just then, a girl walks past hurriedly with a muffin in one hand and a laptop in the other. She seems to be in a rush. Pretty evident that even after the announcement of the acquisition by one of the world's largest retailers, it is business as usual in office.

Also read: Walmart executive doesn’t rule out IPO of e-commerce company in future

Despite a deal that is going to change the dynamics of the e-commerce space, certainly not much seems to have changed in its 8.3 lakh square feet sprawling campus, which is buzzing with activity.

The deal values Flipkart at USD 20.8 billion. Walmart will also be investing USD 2 billion directly by infusing fresh equity in the Bengaluru-based company founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (they are not related) in October 2007.