Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will also be joining Grab’s board of directors.
It’s official. Uber has sold its Southeast Asia unit, which includes both its ride-hailing business and its food delivery service UberEats, to its regional competitor Grab in exchange for a 27.5% percent stake in the business, reports CNBC and Bloomberg.
According to a press announcement from Grab released this morning, the company will migrate Uber drivers and riders, UberEats customers and partners to the Grab platform. With this acquisition and Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on board, Grab aims to expand its current food delivery businesses called GrabFood to Singapore and Malaysia, grow its ridesharing services to include public transportation and new mobility options and keep developing its financial technologies.
In the same statement, Uber’s CEO 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 as we invest heavily in our products and technology to create the best customer experience on the planet.”
For passengers and riders, the Uber app will continue to function until April 8 and UberEats will last until the end of May before both are integrated into Grab’s platform. There's no change in terms of the fare structure at the moment. Grab also told Asia One that all account information including past trips and ratings will be retained in the Uber app and can be used in countries where Uber still operates. Data shared with Uber excluding payment information will be merged into the Grab platform; however, users cannot access this via the Grab app.
[Photo via Yahoo]
