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Reliance Jio Postpones IPO Beyond 2025 as It Focuses on Growth and Expansion

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Indian telecom and digital powerhouse Reliance Jio Platforms, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has decided to delay its much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) beyond this year, according to sources familiar with the matter. The postponement pushes back one of India’s largest planned stock offerings as Jio aims to strengthen its revenue base, grow its subscriber count, and expand its digital services before going public.

Jio Platforms is valued by analysts at over $100 billion. Its telecom arm, Reliance Jio Infocomm, remains the dominant contributor to Jio’s $17.6 billion annual revenue, accounting for nearly 80%. Despite a recent subscriber churn linked to price hikes, the company has returned to growth this year with more than 488 million users. Meanwhile, Jio is rapidly developing niche digital ventures in AI, apps, and connected devices.

The delay disappointed the market as shares of Reliance Industries, Jio’s parent company, fell as much as 1.8% in Mumbai following the Reuters report, wiping out approximately $6 billion in market value. Reliance closed the day down 1.2%, weighing on the broader Indian stock market.

Sources said that Jio had not yet appointed bankers to manage the IPO process, underscoring that the company wants its business to be more mature before listing. Earlier, Ambani had indicated a five-year timeline from 2019 for listings of both Jio and Reliance Retail, the parent’s retail arm. The Reliance Retail IPO is expected to be delayed further, unlikely before 2027 or 2028.

Jio also faces growing competition as Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service prepares to launch in India soon. Jio counts major global investors Google and Meta among its backers and has partnered with Nvidia to build AI infrastructure.

Brokerages have trimmed profit forecasts for Jio due to higher costs and anticipated price increases by late 2025, cutting its valuation from $117 billion to $111 billion, though some analysts value it even higher.

India remains one of the world’s biggest IPO markets, raising $5.86 billion in the first half of 2025. Market jitters from trade tensions and Middle East instability have moderated but are gradually easing.

Ambani has raised around $25 billion in investments from global firms including KKR, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, General Atlantic, and Silver Lake to fuel growth across his digital, telecom, and retail ventures.

One source emphasized that investors remain patient, confident in the company’s long-term prospects despite the IPO delay: “They know the money is sitting in front of them.”

CoreWeave to Acquire Core Scientific in $9 Billion AI Infrastructure Deal

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CoreWeave announced on Monday it will acquire bitcoin miner Core Scientific in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $9 billion, as AI infrastructure companies intensify efforts to secure energy and data center capacity to meet surging demand. The deal reflects a broader trend where crypto firms—once focused on digital assets—are becoming essential to powering artificial intelligence workloads.

Core Scientific shareholders will receive 0.1235 CoreWeave shares for each of their shares, valuing the company at $20.40 per share—a 66% premium from the stock’s last closing price before deal talks emerged in late June. Despite this, Core Scientific shares dropped 22% in early trading Monday, while CoreWeave shares slid 4.5%.

The acquisition is expected to close in Q4 2025, with the final price set at that time. CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator said the deal will “accelerate our strategy to deploy AI and HPC workloads at scale” and eliminate over $10 billion in future lease liabilities over 12 years.

A Strategic Pivot from Crypto to AI

Bitcoin miners, known for their energy-intensive operations, are increasingly being courted by AI companies. CoreWeave will gain control of Core Scientific’s 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of contracted power—critical capacity in the tight market for AI data center expansion.

Analyst Gautam Chhugani of Bernstein noted that the deal “sets the bar” for other crypto miners considering an AI pivot, with power supply emerging as a key bottleneck for the AI industry.

Founded in 2017 as an Ethereum miner, CoreWeave pivoted toward AI following Ethereum’s “Merge” upgrade in 2022, which rendered mining unprofitable. Since then, its revenue has surged, growing over eightfold in 2024, according to its IPO prospectus. The company now has a market valuation of about $79 billion.

A Turnaround Story for Core Scientific

Core Scientific filed for bankruptcy in late 2022, hit hard by plummeting bitcoin prices and soaring energy costs. It emerged in early 2024 with a renewed strategy, signing 12-year agreements with CoreWeave to lease out data center capacity—including one deal for 200 MW of infrastructure for AI computing.

The merger marks a dramatic turnaround and a strategic shift for Core Scientific, from mining crypto to becoming a foundational pillar of AI infrastructure.

Goldman Sachs advised CoreWeave on the transaction, while Moelis & Co and PJT Partners advised Core Scientific.

Elon Musk’s xAI Secures $10 Billion in Funding for AI Expansion, Morgan Stanley Confirms

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Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, has successfully raised $10 billion—split evenly between debt financing and strategic equity investment—as it ramps up efforts to scale infrastructure and compete in the intensifying AI arms race, Morgan Stanley confirmed Monday.

According to a statement posted on X, the $5 billion in debt funding includes a mix of secured notes and term loans and was oversubscribed, drawing in prominent global debt investors. Meanwhile, xAI also completed a separate $5 billion equity raise, with Morgan Stanley describing the capital as “strategic”—a likely reference to targeted investments from industry or institutional players.

Earlier reports by Reuters indicated that xAI was on track to finalize the debt round despite tepid early interest. Bloomberg had separately reported that the AI firm was also pursuing an additional $4.3 billion equity round on top of the debt raise, and had even floated a potential $20 billion equity raise that could push the company’s valuation as high as $200 billion. Current investor estimates place xAI’s valuation at over $120 billion.

The new funds will support the development of AI models, the expansion of data center infrastructure, and growth of xAI’s flagship Grok platform, a generative AI chatbot positioned to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

xAI has not issued a public statement, and declined to comment when contacted by Reuters outside of business hours.

The massive funding round highlights investor confidence in Musk’s ability to build a major player in the AI space, leveraging assets across his business empire, including Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter).