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Flipkart buys Myntra.com

Following Domestic e-retailer global e-commerce leader Amazon's ramp up of its year-old India operations, and the narrowing sales gap sales with Snapdeal, domestic e-retailer Flipkart has acquired its rival and leading fashion e-tailer Myntra.com

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DQW Bureau
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Following Domestic e-retailer global e-commerce leader Amazon's ramp up of its year-old India operations, and the narrowing sales gap sales with Snapdeal, domestic e-retailer Flipkart has acquired its rival and leading fashion e-tailer Myntra.com.

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However, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal insisted that this was a "completely different acquisition story" as it was not "driven by distress".

It is being said that the buy out is at over $300 million.

Both companies will be run independently, with no immediate plans to merge the fashion business on the two portals or even join forces in terms of content or go-to market.

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Myntra CEO Mukesh Bansal joins Flipkart's board, and will head the fashion vertical at Flipkart and Myntra. They also announced that while Myntra employees would "remain in current positions", they would be offered stock options in Flipkart.

Together, both company heads claimed, they were scripting "one of the largest e-commerce stories".

Mukesh Bansal said that on its own Myntra.com held 30 per cent of the market share, but together the two companies would account for 50 per cent of the online fashion market.

"We hope to take this figure to about 60-70 per cent in the long-term," he said. Sachin Bansal added that Flipkart would invest $100 million in its own fashion vertical in the near-term. While the electronics vertical is the largest revenue generator at Flipkart (and will continue to be even after the acquisition), Mr. Bansal hoped that in the near-term fashion would be the "largest sales category for Flipkart". Flipkart started fashion as a shopping category on its site two years ago.

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