Historically, there have been many instances of large technology companies acquiring minority stakes in related or even loosely related companies for strategic reasons. Financial investment gives confidence to the investee company for deeper collaboration.
Microsoft invested USD240mn in the four-year old Facebook with an arrangement wherein Microsoft sold the banner ads appearing on Facebook outside the United States, splitting the revenue. This deal also fizzled out, although Microsoft made financial gains.
Google invested in a Chinese consumer electronics and AI company, Mobvoi, to help it power Wear OS by Google to China. We clearly see that some of the deals achieved their strategic objectives, but many others resulted in financial gains by virtue of stock market listing.
Yahoo! invested USD1bn in Alibaba and handled over its Chinese unit to Alibaba for two seats on the four-member board of Alibaba, not to mention a 35% voting stake in the company. The salience of this deal for Yahoo! is evident from its high stake and board representation. This deal again was a financial success while it did not achieve any strategic objective for Yahoo!
It is possible as technology companies may want to hedge themselves from possible rising protectionism in India by making financial investments.
