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SINGAPORE: The CEO of Singapore’s ride-sharing company Grab told employees in an internal note on Thursday (Dec. 3) that the company is in a position to make acquisitions, following a report that it is close to a merger with its regional rival Gojek.
He said that Grab, which has grown from being a Southeast Asian transportation app operator to offering services like food delivery and insurance, had become profitable before overhead, and the business had fully recovered to pre-pre-levels. the pandemic.
Indonesia’s Grab and Gojek have made substantial progress in talks to merge the two most valuable startups in Southeast Asia, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
“There is again speculation about a deal with Gojek,” Anthony Tan, also a co-founder of Grab, told employees in a note seen by Reuters. “Our commercial momentum is good and, as with any market consolidation rumor, we are the ones in a position to acquire,” he said.
Grab declined to comment on Tan’s note and the media report. Gojek also declined to comment.
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Sources familiar with the matter have previously said that in recent years, large investors in the two companies have backed a merger.
Tan, however, did not give any specific information about a possible deal with Gojek. “There will always be rumors and gossip. Don’t let them distract us,” he told staff.
“Even in a difficult year like 2020, we are profitable before overhead, we achieved a 100 percent recovery,” he said, adding that Grab had also become the top food delivery player by revenue in Indonesia, where he is locked in fierce competition with Gojek. .
The pandemic is the first crisis for the Southeast Asian decade-long start-up scene from which Grab has emerged as a household name and its most valuable company with more than $ 15 billion.
Gojek’s value has been estimated at $ 10 billion.
