{"id":57876,"date":"2018-03-26T11:51:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T06:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=57876"},"modified":"2018-03-26T11:51:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T06:51:21","slug":"uber-exits-se-asia-in-new-retreat-from-global-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=57876","title":{"rendered":"Uber exits SE Asia in new retreat from global markets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singapore\/California March 26 (TNS):<\/strong> Uber sold its Southeast Asian business to rival Grab on Monday, ending a bruising battle between the ride-hailing behemoths and marking the US firm’s latest retreat from international markets.<\/p>\n

Singapore-based Grab is taking over the ride-sharing and food delivery operations of Uber in the region, with the California-headquartered company to receive a 27.5 percent stake in the business in return.<\/p>\n

The sale is Uber’s latest withdrawal from a market where it had faced tough competition, as new chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi seeks to stem huge losses and move past a series of scandals.<\/p>\n

After a fierce battle, Uber sold its China operations to rival Didi Chuxing in 2016 in return for a stake, and last year the US firm merged in Russia with the taxi-hailing app of internet giant Yandex.<\/p>\n

The deal with Grab — which operates in eight Southeast Asian countries — is similar to the one struck with Didi, and ends a fight for market share in a region that is home to some 650 million people and an increasingly affluent middle class.<\/p>\n

“Today’s acquisition marks the beginning of a new era,” said Grab chief executive Anthony Tan. “The combined business is the leader in platform and cost efficiency in the region.”<\/p>\n

Khosrowshahi, who is joining Grab’s board as part of the agreement, said: “This deal is a testament to Uber’s exceptional growth across Southeast Asia over the last five years. It will help us double down on our plans for growth.”<\/p>\n

The value of the deal, which Grab said was the largest ever acquisition by a Southeast Asian internet company, was not disclosed.<\/p>\n

Grab has long been the dominant force in ride-hailing in Southeast Asia and speculation mounted that a deal with Uber was on the cards after Japanese financial titan Softbank invested huge sums in the US firm.<\/p>\n

Softbank is also a major investor in Grab, and is known for pushing for consolidation in the global ride-hailing industry, which has been losing billions of dollars a year due to turf wars.<\/p>\n

– ‘Fewer choices for commuters’ –<\/p>\n

As part of Monday’s deal, Grab is combining Uber’s food delivery service in the region with its own and plans to expand it to more countries.<\/p>\n

While both sides said the move would benefit customers, analysts raised concerns a lack of competition could push up prices.<\/p>\n

“Industry consolidation will mean fewer choices for commuters and fares are likely to trend higher over time as the remaining players seek to improve their profitability longer term,” Corrine Png, a transport analyst from Singapore-based research firm Crucial Perspective, told AFP.<\/p>\n

Grab, launched in 2012, has poured money into expanding its regional fleet and now operates in 195 cities in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.<\/p>\n

As well as linking customers up with private cars, it has services offering motorbike taxis in some countries, regular taxis and carpooling, as well as food and package delivery.<\/p>\n

Before the acquisition, Uber operated in 64 cities in eight Southeast Asian countries.<\/p>\n

Competition between ride-hailing apps has been heating up in Southeast Asia, with the market forecast to grow more than five times to $13.1 billion by 2025, according to a 2016 report by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek.<\/p>\n

Uber is the largest firm of its kind with a presence in more than 600 cities, but it has been rocked by scandals and is facing fierce competition from rivals in Asia and Europe.<\/p>\n

Chief executive Travis Kalanick was ousted in June last year after missteps including allegations of executive misconduct, a toxic workplace atmosphere and potentially unethical competitive practices.<\/p>\n

New boss Khosrowshahi has vowed to turn the company around as Uber gears up for a 2019 public share offering.<\/p>\n

But he has a fight on his hands — Uber’s losses in 2017 grew to $4.5 billion from the $2.8 billion the company lost a year earlier.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Singapore\/California March 26 (TNS): Uber sold its Southeast Asian business to rival Grab on Monday, ending a bruising battle between the ride-hailing behemoths and marking the US firm’s latest retreat from international markets. Singapore-based Grab is taking over the ride-sharing and food delivery operations of Uber in the region, with the California-headquartered company to receive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[732],"class_list":["post-57876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-and-technology","tag-science-and-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57876"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57878,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57876\/revisions\/57878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}