How Snapdeal went from deal to no deal: A timeline

The troubled online market giant, Snapdeal went from an almost merger to an independent path in no time. With talks about the merger with Flipkart, the industry was looking forward for a huge change in the business. Snapdeal laid off many employees in the past six months and was looking to generate cash to run the business. With various merger options available with it, the company did not agree to the final offer made by Flipkart and called off the deal. It will be interesting to see how Snapdeal charts the independent path in the months ahead. Since the company had been working on a strategy for the same, here’s hoping that there are no more layoffs and the company is back in the business. 

The e-commerce giant Snapdeal terminated the talks of a merger with arch rival Flipkart. After long talks, it decided to take up an independent path. Snapdeal mentioned that it has been exploring options over the last few months and has now decided to pursue an independent path. Below is a timeline of the events that led to this decision:

March 22, 2017: It was first reported about Softbank being in talks for a Snapdeal Flipkart merger.

April 13,2017: There was anxiety about the employee layoffs at Snapdeal. Flipkart was in favour of the merger and SoftBank was looking to hold a minimum of 20% in the merged entity.

May 2,2017: There are squabbles between the internal investors at Snapdeal.

May 11, 2017:Snapdeal agrees to a non-binding letter of intent for a merger with Flipkart.

May 24, 2017: SoftBank buys out a stake of Kalaari Capital in Snapdeal.

June 13, 2017: Snapdeal had a plan B in the event of the deal falling through; this meant another round of layoffs which could have impacted about 1000 employees.

June 19, 2017: Snapdeal seeked for a higher valuation for the deal. It believed that Flipkart should add USD 200 Million for its subsidiaries, Vulcan and Unicommerce.

July 4, 2017: Flipkart offers USD 550 million for the merger.

July 7, 2017: Flipkart seeks for more time to get back with a fresh offer for an all stock acquisition.

July 17, 2017: Flipkart makes an official offer of USD 900-950 million for Snapdeal.

July 28, 2017: Axis Bank buys Freecharge from Snapdeal for Rs.385 crore. Snapdeal decides to let the stakeholders take a call on whether to accept Flipkart’s offer.

July 31, 2017: The merger called off and Snapdeal decides to take an independent path.