A challenge to Bezos’ invasion of India

The fortunes of Amazon’s founder kicks off our regular update on the world of billionaires

JEFF BEZOS

Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce firm, has announced a major new investment from Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund, a US$100 billion joint initiative led by the Japanese tech firm and the government of Saudi Arabia.

Flipkart said the cash infusion, added to $1.4bn raised earlier this year from Microsoft, eBay and Chinese tech behemoth Tencent, leaves it with a $4bn war chest to wield in its battle against Jeff Bezos’ Amazon. But the new investment is unlikely to deter the Amazon chief executive Mr Bezos, worth about $83.1bn, who has identified India as his top overseas target and pledged to invest more than $5bn in the country.

Amazon made a couple of big moves last month, successfully introducing its annual sales bonanza, Prime Day, to India while also receiving approval from the Indian government to start selling groceries.

SoftBank declined to confirm the exact amount the fund had invested. Flipkart said the Vision Fund is now one of its largest shareholders.

Flipkart has taken a series of aggressive steps in recent months to counter Amazon in India, acquiring eBay’s business in the country and pursuing a takeover of its top domestic rival Snapdeal. Snapdeal, which is also backed by SoftBank, ruled out a purchase in July after months of negotiations. Mr Son, an ambitious deal-maker, said last week that he would “respect the decision” of Snapdeal’s leadership but said he remained “engaged” with Flipkart.

VINOD KHOSLA

A California court has ordered the Silicon Valley billionaire to restore access to a beloved beach that he closed off for his private use, a major victory for public lands advocates who have been fighting the venture capitalist for years.

An appeals court ruled this month that Mr Khosla, who runs the venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and co-founded the tech company Sun Microsystems, must unlock the gates to Martins Beach in northern California by his property.

The decision is a major blow to Mr Khosla and other wealthy landowners who have increasingly tried to buy up the internationally celebrated beaches along the California coast and turn public lands into private property.

The beach was a popular destination for fishing, surfing and other recreational activities for nearly a century, and the previous owners provided a general store and public restroom. But Mr Khosla eventually bought the property and in 2010 closed public access, putting up signs warning against trespassing.

Mr Khosla, who has a net worth of $1.55bn and does not live on the property, has faced multiple lawsuits and legislative efforts to get him to open up the gate to the beach near Half Moon Bay, about 50km south of San Francisco. The law in California states that all beaches should be open to the public up to the “mean high tide line”.

The decision last week, affirming a lower court ruling, stems from a lawsuit filed by the Surfrider Foundation, a not-for-profit group that says the case could have broader implications for beach access across the US.

“Vinod Khosla, with his billions of dollars, bought this piece of property and said, ‘No, no, the public isn’t going to use this anymore. End of story,’” the Surfrider attorney Joe Cotchett said. “He got away with it for many years … This is probably one of the most important public right-of-access cases in the country.”

VIKTOR VEKSELBERG

The Russian aluminium major Rusal said the tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov has agreed to sell around a 7 per cent stake to the billionaire Viktor Vekselbergfor $503.9 million, concluding lengthy negotiations over a sale.

Mr Prokhorov, a minority shareholder in Hong Kong-listed Rusal, had been in talks to sell a 12 per cent stake in the company to Mr Vekselberg since last year but talks stalled in February. Mr Prokhorov has not said why he wants to reduce his holding in Rusal, which is 48.1 per cent owned by Oleg Deripaska’s En+.

After the talks with Mr Vekselberg stalled, Mr Prokhorov sold a 3.3 per cent stake via an accelerated book build for $240m in February, increasing Rusal’s free-float.

Rusal said the stake sale to Mr Vekselberg, who is worth an estimated $12.9bn, was still dependent on some conditions being met. Once it goes through, Mr Prokhorov’s Onexim Group will retain a 6.7 per cent stake in Rusal.

The combined holding of Mr Vekselberg and his vehicle SUAL Partners Limited will rise to around 22.8 per cent of Rusal’s issued share capital, the company said.

ELON MUSK

Mr Musk’s car company Tesla appears to be leading the “arms race” for lithium-ion batteries – for now.

Mr Musk, whose fortune is estimated at $21.7bn, recently announced plans to build the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery storage project in South Australia. Meanwhile, construction of the company’s highly anticipated 35-gigawatt-hour (GWh) “Gigafactory 1” in the US is still underway.

“There’s a kind of arms race on batteries around the world. We know that Elon Musk with Tesla has got this Gigafactory. The Chinese are racing to overtake him; they’ll have three times the capacity. And then in Germany, we’ve just heard announcement of a new plan for a $1bn factory on batteries,” Giles Keating, the chairman of the investment consultancy Werthstein Institute, said last week.

A report published by Bloomberg Intelligence said factories planned by Chinese companies could have the capacity to produce more than 120 GWh by 2021 – enough to supply 1.5 million Tesla Model S vehicles. And a German consortium of companies led by the Frankfurt-based start-up TerraE is preparing to set up its own 34 GWh lithium-ion battery cell production facilities, touted as Germany’s answer to the Gigafactory.

NG LAP SENG

Private massages are one indulgence that the Macau real estate developer Ng Lap Seng must forgo as a condition of staying in his luxury Manhattan apartment after being convicted of bribing United Nations officials, a US judge ruled this month. District judge Vernon Broderick in Manhattan said at a court hearing that the 69-year-old billionaire could no longer close his bedroom door when his masseuse visits him.

US prosecutors have expressed concern that Mr Ng, whom a jury convicted on July 27 after a four-week trial, would try to escape to China before he is sentenced. He has been allowed to live in his apartment under 24hour guard on bail of $50m. Brendan Finn, a manager at private security firm Guidepost Solutions, which is guarding the apartment, testified at the hearing that the masseuse visits regularly for hours at a time. Prosecutors had asked Mr Broderick last week to jail Mr Ng, whose wealth is estimated at well in excess of $1bn.

Mr Broderick said that was not necessary, but he imposed some additional security measures. Besides the open-door policy for massages, he said, all non-family guests will require court approval, and an interpreter must be present during the daytime so conversations can be monitored.

WARREN BUFFETT

Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by the billionaire Warren Buffett, worth some $75.5bn, said last week that its second quarter profit fell 15 per cent as costs rose for its various businesses and it earned less from its investments.Berkshire owns many companies, including battery maker Duracell, underwear seller Fruit of the Loom and candy company See’s. It also has major investments in Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo & Co. and other companies.

Berkshire reported net income of $4.26bn, or $2,592 per Class A share, during the quarter. That is down from the $5bn, or $3,042 per Class A share, that it reported in the same quarter a year ago.

Operating earnings came to $2,505 per Class A share, down from $2,803 per Class A share a year ago. Mr Buffett has said operating earnings offer a better view of quarterly performance because they exclude investments and derivatives, which can vary widely.