I think Uber and GRAB’s customers would have heard about this piece of news.
Source: Autoevolution.com
Last week, Uber officially announced that they are indeed selling off their SEA business to their rival, GRAB, for sizable stake that valued at about 20%-30%.
That, my friend, is a lot of money.
As we all know that in the recent months, GRAB actually expanded exponentially in Singapore, Indonesia, Philipines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar. So it’s not a shocker that buying over its fiercest competitor is part of their grand plan.
Source: GRAB Philippines FB
Last year GRAB had also launched their services in the capital of Cambodia Phnom Penh. Beside being rival with GRAB, Uber has also faces fierce competition with Ola which is in India and Didi Cuxing in China.
Source: TechCrunch
Source: RefoX Relocation
Uber’s US-based company has been rocked by scandals and is facing a very fierce competition from rivals not only in Asia but also in Europe.
The million dollar question for us back in SEA is this: “What does this mean for the consumers?”
Market monopolization isn’t always the most conductive environment for consumers because it means that there’ll be lesser promotion due to the lack of competition. While we’re all pretty accustomed with the convenience of technology based ride-hailing services within a click of a button (thanks to Uber and Grab), it seems like there might be a possibility that we will revert back to commuting with our reliable public transportation in the event of price hike due to mismanagement.
