Singapore ride-hailing firm Grab slashes 1,000 jobs in biggest layoff since pandemic
Singapore ride-hailing firm Grab Holdings said it is cutting over 1,000 jobs or 11% of its workforce to cut costs and keep the company competitive, in its biggest round of job cuts since the pandemic
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Singapore ride-hailing firm Grab Holdings said it is cutting over 1,000 jobs or 11% of its workforce to cut costs and keep the company competitive, in its biggest round of job cuts since the pandemic.
Grab CEO Anthony Tan said in a letter sent to employees late Tuesday that the job cuts were not a “shortcut to profitability” but part of a fundamental restructuring of its operating model and costs.
“The primary goal of this exercise is to strategically reorganize ourselves, so that we can move faster, work smarter, and rebalance our resources across our portfolio in line with our longer term strategies,” Tan said, describing the restructure as a “painful but necessary step” for the longer term.
Grab’s shares on NASDAQ were up more than 5% in premarket trading, but declined nearly 1.5% midday.
The Singapore-based company started out as a taxi-hailing service in Malaysia in 2012, before later expanding to ride-hailing, food delivery and financial services across eight countries in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. In 2018, it acquired rival Uber’s Southeast Asian operations after years of price wars to carve out market share.
Grab has been slower than other technology firms in the region in slashing jobs. The company initially said last September that it had no plans for massive job cuts.
Last year, Singapore-based gaming and online retail firm Sea Ltd., axed 7000 jobs or about 10% of its workforce. Grab’s rival, Indonesian ride-hailing firm GoTo, had cut 12% of its workforce last year and cut another 600 jobs in March.
Although Grab reported a 130% rise in revenue to $525 million for its quarter ended March, it also clocked a loss of $250 million from the same time last year.
Grab is potentially grappling with slowing growth, amid higher inflation rates and costs of living, as well as stiff competition from rivals such as GoTo. Its gross merchandise value – which calculates the total dollar value of transactions by Grab users – rose just 3% for the quarter. Spending per user was down 4% compared to the same time last year.
In February, Grab brought forward its profitability goal, expecting to break even in the final quarter of 2023. It previously expected to turn profitable in the second half of 2024.