In the ongoing battle between Reliance Industries owner Mukesh Ambani and American industrialist Amazon owner Jeff Bezos for Future Retail, Ambani seems to be overtaking Bezos. According to the news of news agency Reuters, Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, recently took control of 200 of its retail stores due to non-payment of lease rent by Future Retail. According to the news, the company may take control of 250 more retail stores going forward, which is equivalent to one-third of Future Retail’s retail stores.
Amazon’s hands are now empty: Reliance Retail Ventures had entered into a deal of Rs 24,713 crore on 29 August 2020 with Future Retail for its business and assets. Amazon had objected to this deal, saying that it had bought a 49 percent stake in Future Coupons Private Limited (FCPL), the promoter company of Future Retail, after which Amazon went to the Supreme Court regarding the whole matter. Where the court ruled in favor of Amazon in many cases.
During the hearing of the case in the Supreme Court last Thursday, Amazon suddenly said that the dispute should be resolved through negotiations, to which Future Group has also agreed. During this, Amazon’s lawyer Gopal Subramaniam said, “The shops are no more…..let’s just talk”.
Experts say on the whole matter that after Reliance has taken over the stores of Future Retail, now there is nothing left for Amazon in this heart because when there is no store then what will be the matter. On the other hand, Reliance’s proceedings came in a statement on February 26 from Future Retail, which said that it is reducing its operations so that the loss can be minimized.
Reliance will give jobs to employees: According to sources, Reliance has decided to hire Future employees to run the stores. Presently, Future Retail has more than 1700 stores in the country in which more than 30 thousand employees work. Future Retail has over $4 billion in debt.