
An Indian e-commerce company, Flipkart announced a one-time discretionary cash payout of as much as $700 million to almost 25,000.
These benefits will be provided to its former and current employees, who hold employee stock options. The top 20 employees of the company the most senior and early staffers will be getting as much as $200 million out of the $700 million payout in one-time cash payouts to holders of employee stock options.
It has been noted that the payout will be worth USD 43.67 per option, taking into account the rise in PhonePe’s valuation.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart, said, “We are pleased to announce that employees, who are holders of Flipkart ESOPs (employee stock option plans), will receive a one-time discretionary cash payout as part of the transaction.”
“This payout represents the value of the PhonePe holding within those Flipkart options,” Kalyan Krishnamurthy added.
Recently, Flipkart and PhonePe announced the full ownership separation of PhonePe, India’s largest digital payments platform. Establishing these businesses as individual entities will allow both to chart their growth paths, as they continue building industry-leading offerings that provide access and inclusion for Indians.
The PhonePe Group was acquired by the Flipkart Group in 2016 and today is India’s largest digital payments platform. The company builds products and offerings tailored to the Indian market, and with over 400 million registered users, more than one in four Indians are now using PhonePe.
Setting up these businesses as separate entities will also provide value and create new opportunities for investors to participate in the Indian tech ecosystem – helping unlock and maximize enterprise value for shareholders of the two companies.
Sameer Nigam, Founder, and CEO at PhonePe said: “Flipkart and PhonePe are proud, homegrown Indian brands with a user base upwards of 400 million each. We are looking forward to the next phase of our growth as we invest in new businesses – like insurance, wealth management, and lending, while also enabling the next wave of growth for UPI payments in India. This will help propel our vision to provide billions of Indians with financial inclusion.”
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group said, “The Flipkart Group has developed many successful entrepreneurs and seen impactful businesses started by former employees. We are proud to see PhonePe grow and thrive as a successful organization in its own right.”
“We are confident PhonePe will continue to scale and achieve its vision of providing financial inclusion to millions of Indians. Flipkart stays committed to its purpose to empower every Indian’s dream by delivering value through innovation in technology and commerce while helping small businesses connect to pan-India markets.” He added.