Google buys 7.7% of Reliance's digital unit Jio Platforms for US$4.5b

[NEW DELHI] India's Reliance Industries on Wednesday said Alphabet's Google will buy a 7.7 per cent stake in its digital unit for US$4.50 billion, winning the backing of another US tech giant after Facebook in late April.

With Google's investment, strategic and financial investors have committed a total of 1.52 trillion rupees (S$28.16 billion) in the last few months, Reliance chairman and billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani said at the company's annual shareholders meeting hosted via a webcast.

Reliance's digital unit Jio Platforms houses music and movie apps but its mainstay is telecoms firm Jio Infocomm - India's largest mobile carrier with more than 387 million users.

REUTERS