Fashion
Uber ride sharing drivers and customers in Jakarta and other 50 Southeast Asian cities have until April 8 to transfer their accounts to Grab, following an announcement on Monday (26/03) that Uber will sell its business in the region to the Singapore-based Grab.
Under the deal, Uber will hand over its operations and assets in Southeast Asia in exchange for a 27.5 percent stake in Grab — which according to latest valuation round put its value at $6 billion. Grab will also let Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi join its board of directors.
“Uber will be combining our operations with Grab to lead you in the next chapter of ridesharing in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia,” the company said in a statement to customers on Monday.
“What this means for you: we will be transitioning our services over to the Grab platform by April 8, 2018, so all requests after that date should be made from the Grab app. However, you can still use the Uber app in more than 80 countries around the world,” the company said.
Grab’s acquisition of Uber will challenge its main competitors, including Indonesia’s homegrown Go-Jek. Go-Jek is backed by Chinese technology giants Tencent Holdings.
Grab said it will further develop an online-to-offline platform by creating GrabCycle, an offline marketplace for shared bicycle rent services, and GrabShuttle Plus, an in-demand platform to provide bus services for certain routes.
As part of the acquisition plan, the GrabFoods service will further expand in Singapore and Malaysia. The food service integration is slated to finalize in the first half this year.
Aside from food and online-to-offline services, Grab will also expand its payment services as it plans to offer micro-financing, insurance service deals and other financial services.
“Together with Uber, we are now in an even better position to fulfill our promise to outserve our customers. Their trust in us as a transport brand allows us to look towards the next step as a company: improving people’s lives through food, payments and financial services,” said Anthony Tan, Grab Group chief executive and co-founder.
The acquisition of Uber, which has forfeited its operations in eight countries in the region, is similar to the deal China’s Didi Chuxing made in 2016 that bought out Uber’s business and operations in the country for $35 billion, and its third retreat after selling its operations in Russia to local company Yandex in 2017.
“It [the deal] will help us double down on our plans for growth as we invest heavily in our products and technology to create the best customer experience on the planet,” Khosrowshahi said.
