Home
Internet
Internet News
Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani Likens Amazon's Bid to Stall Retail Deal to 'Ruthless' Alexander the Great

Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani Likens Amazon's Bid to Stall Retail Deal to 'Ruthless' Alexander the Great

Amazon alleges Future Group violated contracts by agreeing to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries last year.

By Reuters | Updated: 30 January 2021 14:21 IST

Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani Likens Amazon's Bid to Stall Retail Deal to 'Ruthless' Alexander the Great

Photo Credit: Reuters

Kishore Biyani's staff e-mail said Amazon was "playing the dog in the manger"

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani sent a memo to its staff
The memo talks about Amazon's bid to stall Future Group's sale
Indian stock exchanges cleared Future's deal with Reliance

Amazon's bid to stall Future Group's $3.4 billion (roughly Rs. 24,788 crores) retail assets sale is similar to Alexander the Great's "ruthless ambition to scorch the earth", the Indian group's CEO Kishore Biyani said in an internal staff memo seen by Reuters.

Amazon, locked in protracted legal disputes with Future, alleges the Indian firm violated contracts by agreeing to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries last year. Future denies wrongdoing.

The two sides this week traded barbs in a New Delhi court, the latest legal case where Amazon is seeking to block the sale. India's second-largest retailer says the deal is critical for the survival of its 1,700 stores and thousands of employees.

Future Group’s Plea Against Amazon Dismissed by Delhi High Court

Dubbing it a corporate battle "for supremacy over Indian customers", Biyani's staff e-mail late on Friday said Amazon was "playing the dog in the manger".

Taking a further dig at Amazon, he said the "vexatious litigation and harassment makes one wonder about the similarity in ruthless ambition to scorch the earth akin to the Greek Alexander - after all, they are inspired to name their product as Alexa".

"History tells us that Alexander conquered large parts of the world but failed in India."

NSE Warned Future Retail of Action Over Disclosures on Amazon Dispute

The Macedonian leader's military campaign greatly expanded the Greek-speaking empire throughout the Middle East and parts of Asia, ushering in the Hellenistic age before he died in present-day Iraq in 323 B.C.

Amazon declined to comment on the memo by Biyani, often referred to as India's retail king for transforming the country's retailing in recent decades.

In the latest court case, Amazon has also asked the judge to detain Biyani in a civil prison, arguing his firm "deliberately" disobeyed a Singapore arbitrator's October order that put the deal on hold.

Future maintains that arbitration order is not binding.

Its lawyer on Friday said Amazon was trying to block the deal because it will make it difficult for the U.S. firm to compete with Reliance, led by one of Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, who is fast expanding into e-commerce.

"Amazon is only interested that Reliance should not improve in India," said Future's counsel Harish Salve. The next court hearing is on Monday.

Indian stock exchanges this month cleared Future's deal with Reliance, despite Amazon's repeated requests to regulators to block the deal.

"We are on firm legal footing and this is vindicated by the approvals," Biyani said in his memo.

What will be the most exciting tech launch of 2021? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.