Meesho shares climbed 3.3% to ₹216.67 on Friday, defying a major ₹1,650 crore stake sale by SoftBank. The stock’s resilience highlights strong demand from domestic and foreign institutional investors, who swiftly bought the shares offloaded by the Japanese firm.
Meesho shares showed resilience on the National Stock Exchange on Friday, closing 3.3% higher at ₹216.67. This performance came despite a significant block deal where SoftBank, through its investment arm SVF II Meerkat (DE) LLC, offloaded shares worth ₹1,650.4 crore.
In the block deal executed on Thursday, SoftBank sold 8 crore shares at an average price of ₹206.30. This transaction reduced the investor's stake in the e-commerce company from 8.6% to 6.87%. While large-scale exits by major shareholders can sometimes create downward pressure on a stock, the market’s reaction here was notably positive, with the price rising rather than falling after the event.
This stability is largely attributed to the robust appetite among institutional buyers. The shares sold by SoftBank were quickly absorbed by a diverse group of domestic and international institutions. Notable participants included global names such as Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, and the Government Pension Fund of Norway. On the domestic front, several prominent mutual funds, including Motilal Oswal, Franklin Templeton, Canara Robeco, and HSBC, along with insurance majors like HDFC Standard Life and Bajaj Life Insurance, participated in the buying.
For investors, this activity offers insights into the company’s current market standing. Meesho has been a publicly traded entity only since December 2025, and it has seen a series of liquidity events recently. This SoftBank sale follows a similar pattern seen last month, where private equity firms Elevation Capital and Peak XV Partners sold a combined 2.3% stake for ₹1,949 crore. The ability of the market to absorb these large blocks suggests that there is consistent institutional interest in the company’s long-term growth plan within the highly competitive Indian e-commerce space.
While the current institutional support is a positive signal, investors should note the inherent risks associated with a relatively new public company. The e-commerce sector in India remains intense, with companies constantly balancing revenue growth against the need for better profit margins. As early investors continue to trim their holdings, the stock may experience periods of volatility depending on the volume of future stake sales and broader market sentiment.
The key monitorable for shareholders will be the company’s ability to sustain its growth trajectory and demonstrate a clear path toward consistent profitability in upcoming quarterly results. The market will also track how the management balances competitive pricing strategies with the pressure to improve unit economics, as these factors will ultimately drive long-term value for public shareholders.