Uber continues Asia retreat with sale to Grab
Uber has agreed to sell its south-east Asia operations to local rival Grab for an undisclosed sum as it continues to retreat from the region.
Singapore-based Grab currently operates in the largest 195 cities of south-east Asia and has approximately 5m daily users. Its app for smartphone already has 90m downloads
The transport company announced on Monday that it would be be buying Uber, “with the combination of businesses, Grab will become the first mobile online-to-offline platform in South East Asia and one of the main competitors in the food delivery business”, it said in a statement.
The countries included in the operation are: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malasia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Although the price of the deal wasn’t made public, both companies agreed that Uber will keep 27.5% of Grab’s shares and that Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi will be a member of Grab’s board.
Even so, the move means another retreat from Asian operations for Uber since it already sold its China business to local company Didi Chuxing in 2016.
Uber's Khosrowshahi said the deal would "help us double down on our plans for growth as we invest heavily in our products and technology".
Regarding the withdrawal of another sector of their international operations he said: "One of the potential dangers of our global strategy is that we take on too many battles across too many fronts and with too many competitors.”