Uber agrees to sell its Southeast Asian business to Grab after bruising battle
Singapore/San Francisco — Ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies has agreed to sell its Southeast Asian business to bigger regional rival Grab, the firms said on Monday, marking the US company’s second retreat from an Asian market. The industry’s first big consolidation in Southeast Asia, home to about 640-million people, puts pressure on Indonesia’s Go-Jek, which is backed by Alphabet’s Google and China’s Tencent. A shake-up in Asia’s fiercely competitive ride-hailing industry became likely earlier this year when Japan-based SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund made a multi-billion dollar investment in Uber. "It was really a very independent decision by both companies," Grab president Ming Maa said, adding that SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son was "highly supportive". Uber would take a 27.5% stake in Singapore-based Grab and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi would join Grab’s board. Grab was last valued at about $6bn. "It will help us double down on our plans for growth as we invest heavily in our product...
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