It was reported recently that Uber is thinking about selling its Southeast Asia business to local competitor Grab in exchange for a substantial stake in the company. However, the latest comments from the company’s CEO suggests that Uber wants to compete with rivals in this region. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said that the company will “invest aggressively” to better compete with rivals like Grab.
Uber expects to continue losing money in this region as it engages in costly battles with the likes of Grab. Ever since Japan’s Softbank acquired a 15 percent stake in Uber, reports about the company potentially being combined with other ride-hailing services that Softbank owns stakes in have surged. Softbank owns stakes in Singapore-based Grab and India’s Ola.
Khosrowshahi is on his first official trip to Asia as Uber’s CEO and he seems to have dismissed the reports which suggest that the company is mulling a sale of its Southeast Asian business to Grab.
“We expect to lose money in Southeast Asia and expect to invest aggressively in terms of marketing, subsidies etc,” he said while pointing out that there’s huge potential for growth in the region due to fast internet user growth and a massive population.
“We will look at anything …. But right now the plan for Southeast Asia is to go forward, lean forward and to invest,” Khosrowshahi added.