Uber sells off Southeast Asian business to Grab

Since Grab is the largest Uber’s rival in the region of Southeast Asia, the company is losing its business to Grab, after losing its Chinese Business in 2016 the company has announced on Monday that it agrees to sell its business to Grab.

According to a press release Grab will acquire Uber’s entire business in Southeast Asia including ride-hailing services, food delivery services, financial and payment services in Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

According to the acquisition details, Uber will have a 27.5 percent stake in Grab along with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi joining Grab’s board of directors. This not the first time Uber is selling its business in Asia, the company has sold its business in China to Didi Chuxing in 2016. However, the rumors about Grab’s acquisition have been lurking since investors unveiled investment in Uber last December.

Uber has been in great turmoil for the past few years, work culture, ethics, regulations, resignations of top employees created so many troubles for Uber, and more recently, a driverless car was involved in an Accident in Arizona forcing the company to curb its driverless operations in the US and Canada.

However, Grab is very much positive about the acquisition, Grab’s group CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan said: “A combined business can become the leader and cost-efficient in the region, together with Uber we now have a better position to serve our customers even better.”

Grab has also sent out the notification using Grab App to its customers in the region informing them about the merger of two platforms that will happen soon in future. However, how authorities would respond to this deal remains unclear.