Grab acquires Uber Southeast Asia with Jon Russell

Jon Russell, from TechCrunch joined us in a two episode arc to discuss the major acquisitions that are shaking the Asia landscape from Southeast Asia to China. In the first part of our conversation, we discussed the recent acquisition of Uber Southeast Asia by Grab and its impact to the different stakeholders from investors, employees, consumers and governments. We also explore how their competitors Go-Jek and Ola are affected within the Asian landscape. 

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

• Jon Russell (@jonrussell, LinkedIn, Newsletter, Personal Site), Reporter at TechCrunch [0:38]
  • Since we last spoke, what have you been up to? 
• Grab acquires Uber Southeast Asia [2:28]
  • Before the deal happened, there have been rumors circulating about Uber and Grab are in talks to discuss the acquisition similar to how the Didi deal was done. What is the backstory on the circumstances that lead to this story? [4:19]
  • After a month of speculation, the deal happened. Was it an equity swap deal or are there cash involved? [7:20]
  • Who are the winners and losers for Grab and Uber Southeast Asia deal? [9:20]
    • Grab
    • Uber
    • Go-Jek
    • Employees at Uber Southeast Asia
    • Consumers in Southeast Asia
  • What do this mean for ride hailing in Southeast Asia? Do you think that Grab will eventually beat Go-Jek in Indonesia? [17:24]
  • Do you see the domino for Uber to collapse also in India with Ola taking over Uber’s assets in India? [18:41]
  • Where do Uber go from here? Are they relegated to become a regional power or are there regions where they can still dominate? [19:21]
  • Does SoftBank play a role in making sure that all their assets are playing nice to each other? [20:56]
  • The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) has said that it has “reasonable grounds” to suspect that the merger of Grab & Uber Southeast Asia has infringed the Competition Act and it triggered similar commissions in Malaysia and Philippines governments to look into this deal. Will this deal get defrayed? [21:30]

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The show is hosted by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong & weibo) and are sponsored by Ideal Workspace (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) with their new Altizen Desk (Twitter, Facebook, Medium). Sound credits for the intro music: Taro Iwashiro, “The Beginning” from Red Cliff Soundtrack.