27.5%: this is the amount of the stake in the capital that Uber will receive from his rival Grab in exchange for its withdrawal from South-East Asia. A decision that had been announced many times and regularly denied by Uber's management. Now it's a done deal. For a week now, Grab and Uber have been one and the same, with Grab asserting its predominance in the region.
In fact, Grab has been more flexible and aggressive in this part of the world. Born in Malaysia and based in Singapore, the start-up very quickly became the leading car-sharing platform in the region with a low entry fee for interested driverswith fares that are often lower than Uber's for passengers and a cooperation with local taxi companies. In the streets of Bangkokof Jakarta or Manila, many traditional taxis are also Grab vehicles...
This makes Grab the only shared transport operator in South-East Asia, with the exception of Indonesia, where Grab's role will be to Go-Jek competitoranother shared-vehicle operator - mainly motorbikes - whose investor is Temasek, the Singaporean state-owned conglomerate, and... Google. This quasi-monopoly situation could ultimately lead to significant price increases in the region. The company denies this. In an email response to the media in Malaysia, the company's management assured them that there would be no change in fares. " On services GrabCar and JustGrabUnder the new system, fares will continue to be calculated on the basis of a basic distance, with a supplement that will vary according to supply and demand at the time the order is placed and the estimated journey time. This is a driver-friendly calculation who face variable road conditions throughout the day. This means that fares are lower in periods of low demand - and vice versa. "says the press release.
In practical terms, the merger is proceeding according to a tight timetable. The Uber application will remain in service until 8 April to help Uber drivers reposition themselves on Grab and passengers migrate to the booking platform. In May, Grab will also integrate "Uber Eats. All meal delivery services will therefore migrate to the GrabFood.
Grab is one of the most frequently used mobile platforms in South-East Asia, with more than 5 million people using its ordering platform on a daily basis. Today, the Grab application has been downloaded from over 90 million mobile devices. The service is available in 195 towns in eight South-East Asian countries (Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and offers the widest range of on-demand transport services, including private cars, motorbikes, taxis and car-sharing services.
