E-commerce marketplace Flipkart has announced it has successfully completed its Employee Stock Options repurchase programme. In all, over 3,000 past and present employees of The Flipkart Group participated in the buyback offer that led to a disbursement of over $100 million.
“Employees are our biggest source of strength, without whom Flipkart couldn’t have built the e-commerce industry in India,” said Sachin Bansal, Chairman, Flipkart, and Binny Bansal, Group CEO. “As an organisation, we believe they should be equal partners in Flipkart’s success. This ESOP repurchase programme is an extension of that culture, and a token of thanks for the dedication and hard work they have put in over the years. We’re delighted to be setting the benchmark on this important parameter, not only in the start-up industry, but the wider Indian private sector as well.”
Initiated in October, the programme gave all eligible current and former employees of Flipkart, and group companies Myntra, Jabong and PhonePe, an opportunity to sell to the company a part of their vested ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) units.
Flipkart said the repurchase programme is the single-largest liquidity-providing event in India by an unlisted, private company, to its ESOP holders. This also marks the fourth instance in the past five years when Flipkart has given its ESOP holders an opportunity to encash a percentage of their vested stock options.