After Facebook, Microsoft mulling investment in Reliance Jio; here are the signs

For the past few weeks, speculations are rife in trading circles regarding a mega-investment deal between Microsoft and Reliance Jio. Observers of the stock market foresee a considerable investment by Microsoft in the telecom giant.

Jio Platforms, over the last one month, has raised funds to the tune of Rs 67,194.75 crore from leading technology investors such as Facebook, Silver Lake Partners, Vista Equity Partners and General Atlantic among others. Thus, several business analysts are of the view that it is the right time for Microsoft to further its relationship with Reliance Jio.

Microsoft's investment trajectory agrees with the speculation

Before buying stakes in a big company, Microsoft mostly likes to tick off a couple of points. As pointed out by an analyst named Sanchit Vir Gogia, "Microsoft has a strategy to lead with a partnership, get its technology deep-rooted and then invest."

The American tech giant followed a similar pattern with Ola Cabs. It started off with a small partnership, waited till Ola Cabs got used to its technology, and then went on to invest $200 million. Presently, Ola Cabs relies on Microsoft for services such as cloud solutions, connected vehicles offering and even its future mobility project - Ola Electric.

For the unversed, Microsoft, in 2019, had forged a long-term alliance with Reliance Jio to accelerate digital transformation in India. Both companies combined their efforts to offer a detailed set of solutions comprising connectivity, computing, storage solutions and other technology services to Indian businesses.

In February this year, Reliance Jio furthered its partnership with Microsoft as it announced the availability of Azure cloud on its platform. More recently, the subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) confirmed that is using Microsoft Collaboration Tools to enable work from home for its employees during the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

Reliance Jio refutes reports of investment by Microsoft

As share market experts became more optimistic about Microsoft eyeing the stocks of Reliance Jio, a RIL spokesperson recently denied all such speculations.

"The information is not correct. There is no such discussion with Microsoft as of now," the spokesperson summed up.