Grab Holdings Inc., Southeast Asia's premier ride-hailing firm, announced that it will cut 360 workers, or below 5 percent of its headcount, as the company lowers expenditures to manage an economic setback and weak recovery from an ongoing global health crisis.
Chief Executive Anthony Tan disclosed that the pandemic had a wide effect on the group's operations and it is undertaking urgent measures to adapt to the challenges. On top of the terminations, Grab is looking to eliminate some non-fundamental programs, integrate functions and reassign staff to new initiatives, such as delivery.
A Grab representative disclosed to TechCrunch that the ride-hailing group will not be closing down business offices, and that the job cuts would be the last company-wide layoff the group will carry out this year.
According to the spokesperson, Grab is not hounded by any capitalization issues as it addresses the challenges of the new normal. The job cut was made in order for Grab to "become a leaner and more efficient organization and we did this by sunsetting non-core projects, and pivoting to focus on deliveries," as reported by Catherine Shu of TechCrunch.
The company's retrenchment move comes in the midst of other cost-reduction efforts, like the group's decision to minimize the commission rebates for its fleet of drivers to the leading 18,000 performers, as it eliminates previous incentive offerings.
Grab - Southeast Asia's most valuable startup with a market value of over $14 billion - has realized the deep impact of coronavirus on its global operations starting in February. At the same time, it has become very obvious that the crisis will likely usher in a prolonged economic turmoil that Grab said it must brace for.
Despite its great success in the food delivery business, the Singapore-based ride-hailing app Grab could not extricate itself from the grip of a crippling pandemic, announcing layoffs in its Southeast Asian hub, including the Philippines.
A Grab representative confirmed to Philstar.com that some personnel in the Philippines will be included in the job cuts, but did not divulge how many and from what department or positions. Apart from the Philippines and Singapore, the SoftBank-backed super-app has branches in Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, Philstar reported.
The job cuts are the latest indication of pain among the portfolio entities of SoftBank Group Corp. Its founder, Masayoshi Son, had been among the most prolific supporter of ride-hailing firms, investing around $3 billion in Grab and billions more in Uber Technologies and China's Didi Chuxing.
