By Bloomberg SoftBank Group, Flipkart’s largest shareholder, may prefer a sale to Amazon in part because of its success in cracking open the ecommerce business, one of the people said. Walmart looks likely to take the next round in the battle for India’s retail market over rival Amazon .com. Flipkart Online Services, India’s leading e-commerce company, is leaning toward selling a controlling stake to the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company, rather than Amazon, because of the greater certainty in such a deal, according to people familiar with the matter. Both US companies are bidding for a controlling stake in Flipkart at a valuation of about $20 billion, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Flipkart’s board recently met to discuss the competing proposals and thinks Walmart could close a deal more quickly and smoothly, the people said. Walma...
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