Uber give up on South East Asian market by selling its whole service to rivals Grab

Uber have reached an agreement to sell both its ride-hailing and food delivery businesses in Southeast Asia to rivals Grab. In exchange, Uber will get a 27.5% stake in what is being advertised as a combined company. Around 500 Uber staff across the region will transition to Grab, and over the coming weeks both companies will help customers move to Grab’s apps. Uber's journey in Southeast Asia started in Singapore almost five years ago.

In a letter to staff Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said:

"It is fair to ask whether consolidation is now the strategy of the day, given this is the third deal of its kind, from China to Russia and now Southeast Asia. The answer is no. "One of the potential dangers of our global strategy is that we take on too many battles across too many fronts and with too many competitors. This transaction now puts us in a position to compete with real focus and weight in the core markets where we operate, while giving us valuable and growing equity stakes in a number of big and important markets where we don’t. "While M&A will always be an important value-creation tool for our company, going forward we will be focused on organic growth—growth that comes from building the best products, services and technology in the world, and re-building our brand into the mobility brand that riders, cities and drivers want to support and partner with."