About 1,000 former employees of Flipkart and its group companies have approached the boards of Walmart and Flipkart seeking clarity on the ecommerce company’s long-awaited initial public offering (IPO), as uncertainty over the listing timeline leaves the value of their vested employee stock options locked up, according to people familiar with the matter.
A collective representation, dated October 10 and addressed to the boards of Walmart Inc. and Flipkart, said former employees of Flipkart and its group companies are seeking liquidity for their vested employee stock options. The document, titled “Liquidity for Vested Employee Stock Options,” lists over 500 signatures within 24 hours of circulation.
The representation includes former employees of Flipkart, Myntra, Cleartrip, Shopsy, Supermoney and ANS, according to a copy of the representation seen by Business Standard.
The move follows an earlier communication to Walmart from former senior Flipkart executives, including ex-Myntra CEO Mukesh Bansal, former chief business officer Ankit Nagori, former chief technology officers Amod Malviya and Ravi Garikipati, former chief people officer Mekin Maheshwari and former vice-president Anuj Chowdhary, seeking fair treatment for their vested employee stock options.
The listing could be delayed by another one to two years, as Walmart, Flipkart group’s parent, remains cautious and takes a wait-and-watch approach, the people said.
The concerns come as other consumer companies, including Urban Company and Swiggy, have gone public, while Zepto and Snapdeal have started the IPO process. Flipkart’s own path to the public markets remains ambiguous.
Flipkart is targeting an IPO valuation of about $50 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Some current and former employees are concerned that the delay has left the value they have accumulated through employee stock options tied up, limiting their ability to liquidate their holdings.
Flipkart was valued at about $38.2 billion in the second tranche of its employee stock buyback programme in July this year, according to the sources. That was up 6 per cent from the $36 billion valuation at which it last raised private capital in May 2024. The buyback allowed eligible employees to liquidate up to 5 per cent of their vested options. With the IPO timeline unclear, some employees are understood to be asking what the next avenue for liquidity will be and when.
According to some sources, the issue is less about an IPO happening immediately and more about when employees will be able to realise the value of equity accumulated over several years. This is particularly relevant for longer-tenured employees, for whom employee stock ownership plans represent a meaningful component of accumulated wealth. Such plans have historically been linked to expectations around a public listing or periodic liquidity events.
The uncertainty is also feeding into broader conversations around retention, with some employees understood to be exploring opportunities outside the group.
Flipkart Internet, the marketplace arm of Flipkart, reported a consolidated net loss of ₹1,494.2 crore in 2024-25 (FY25), down from ₹2,358.7 crore in 2023-24 (FY24), according to financial data sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler. The net loss narrowed 36.7 per cent, aided by higher revenue and operating leverage across its marketplace and advertising businesses. Total income rose 14 per cent to ₹20,807.4 crore in FY25 from ₹18,241.6 crore in FY24. Revenue from operations increased 14.4 per cent to ₹20,493.3 crore from ₹17,907.3 crore a year earlier, while other income declined marginally to ₹314.1 crore from ₹334.3 crore.