American ecommerce company eBay Inc said that it will sell its stake in Flipkart and relaunch its Indian unit after Walmart’s decision to purchase a 77% stake in the Indian ecommerce company for $16 billion.

eBay said it has notified Flipkart and Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, that it intends to sell its 6.55% in Flipkart, worth around $1.1 billion.

"Following the close of the transaction, we also will be ending our current strategic relationship with Flipkart, which includes unwinding our commercial agreements with Flipkart and terminating Flipkart's license to use the eBay.in brand," eBay said in a statement.

eBay said will also terminate the strategic relationship it has with Flipkart. The company said it will relaunch eBay India with a cross-border focus.

“We plan to relaunch eBay India with a differentiated offer to focus initially on the cross-border trade opportunity, which we believe is significant. We believe there is huge growth potential for ecommerce in India and significant opportunity for multiple players to succeed in India’s diverse, domestic market,” said eBay.

Flipkart bought eBay India operations in 2017. eBay had invested about $500 million in Flipkart and received shares worth another $220 million by selling the business to the Indian company.

eBay started its India operations in 2004 by acquiring News Corp-backed Bazee.com. The company struggled to make a mark in a fiercly competitive market that has long been dominated by Flipkart and Amazon.

Read our comprehensive coverage of the deal here.

First Published:May 9, 2018 9:27 PM IST