Grab Confirms Acquisition Of Uber In Southeast Asia

Written by: Cai Huiling Created: 26 March 2018

Uber’s Operational Exit From The Region Has Been Set

Grab confirmed on Monday, March 26^th, that it has finalised the deal to acquire Uber’s Southeast Asia operations and assets. In return, the U.S. company will receive a 27.5 per cent stake in the merged business and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join Grab's board. 

The deal marks the industry's first big consolidation in Southeast Asia, heating up the competition among its rivals such as Indonesia's Go-Jek, backed by Alphabet Inc's Google and China's Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Grab intends to integrate Uber’s ride-sharing and food delivery business in the region into its own platform Grab. In the media release, it was announced that all existing Uber drivers and riders, as well as Uber Eats customers, partnering eateries and delivery partners will be eventually migrated to the Grab platform.

The Uber app will continue to be in operation for two more weeks until Apr 8. Thereafter, riders will have to download the Grab app and register for an account to use the ridesharing service. All of Uber’s customer data except payment information will also be transferred to Grab, allowing customers to view their past transaction history and ratings they held on the Uber app previously.

Meanwhile, Uber Eats will continue running until the end of May, upon which Uber delivery and restaurant partners will also migrate to the GrabFood platform, Grab said.

Uber’s operational exit from Southeast Asia would help boost profits at a company that has lost US $10.7 billion since its founding nine years ago, in hopes of cleaning up its financials ahead of an initial offering set in 2019. The U.S. company’s focus will shift toward its operations other key markets in India and Japan, according to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

With this major win for Grab, investors will certainly be keeping a keen eye on the company’s expansion in the region and beyond.

Written by: Cai Huiling

Huiling covers a diverse range of topics at Billionaire, fuelled by her passion for environmental sustainability and humanitarian advocacy. In her downtime, she enjoys getting lost in a good book and tending to her urban garden.