In the field of technology and Internet in Southeast Asia, Grab and Goto, which have each affected hundreds of millions of local people, will always be an unavoidable existence here. Similarly, when the two begin to intertwine, these trends will attract enough attention from the outside world.
Goto denied the claim earlier this week after it was recently reported that Grab and Goto had restarted merger talks. In its statement, the company said it had not held any discussions on such matters.
Late last week, Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, pointed out that the "Southeast Asian duo" Grab and Goto have recently resumed merger talks. In addition, the two giants (Grab and Gojek) had their first talks about a merger four years ago in February '20 – before Gojek merged with Tokopedia.
Of course, although it seems that the rumors of a merger between Grab and Goto have fallen through again, and the reason for the merger is almost the same as "long-term losses caused by the fierce competition between the two", according to Bloomberg sources, there are some new speculations this time compared to the previous ones.
According to the whistleblower, one of the potential options for the merger is Grab's acquisition of Goto in cash, ** or a combination of both. As a driving force for this move, the whistleblower pointed out that after Patrick Walujo became GoTo's CEO, the company has become more open to such matters. And the whistleblower further added that the majority shareholders of both companies are in favor of the deal and have been pushing for merger talks.
In addition, the two companies have also made a market split. Among them, Grab will gain control of its Singapore base and some other markets, while Goto will retain control in Indonesia.
However, as one of the headwinds to the merger, the whistleblower stressed that the value of the two companies would be an issue that could not be ignored – in the case of Goto, the company's share price has risen by nearly 30% over the past year. In addition, some data pointed out that since the two giants have been listed, the stock prices of both have fallen by about 70%.
Another point of resistance will inevitably be in the antitrust review of regulators in the relevant market regions.
According to a previous study, in the case of Gojek alone, the giant's ecosystem can contribute 16% share, and this figure can be increased to 2% at the goto level. Shifting the focus to Grab, according to a recently released report, Grab was the largest food delivery brand in Southeast Asia that year by the end of '23, accounting for 55% (US$9.4 billion) of the total value of food delivery goods in the region. For comparison, GoJek's GMV share in the region's food delivery market is 105%。