Online e-commerce giant Amazon has served a legal notice to Future Group for allegedly breaching its terms of contract, according to TV network ET Now. The U.S. based online shopping behemoth has reportedly claimed in its notice that Future Group’s recent deal to sell its majority stake to Reliance Retail is subjected to legal scrutiny.
Amazon’s raison d’etre behind its legal notice hovers around its deal with Future Group that took place last year. Much before Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail came into the picture and acquired majority stake in Kishore Biyani promoted company. Following the last year’s deal, Amazon had acquired 49% stake in Future Coupons – one of the group entities owned by Future Group. The deal also gave Jeff Bezos’ Company a 3.58% stake in Future Retail and the right of first refusal to purchase more stake in Reliance Retail.
In August when Reliance Retail and Future Group’s deal was materialized, Techpluto was probably the only news portal to take notice of the fact that last year’s deal between Amazon and Future Group may create some legal problem.
Amazon’s legal notice has baffled some industry experts as the U.S retail giant is reportedly in talks to acquire a stake in Reliance Retail. If these tentative talks does materialize into a deal then it will create unique synergy between Jeff Bezos and Ambani led company. Simply because both companies are now direct competitors in the e-commerce filed following Jio Mart’s recent launch.
Ambani’s Jio Mart plans to disrupt India’s burgeoning e-commerce industry in the same way it had disrupted the telecom industry. Jio Mart’s entry has already created ripples with both Flipkart and Amazon now looking to ramp up their operations to take on new elephant in the room.