Singapore's ride-hailing company Grab is cutting around 1,000 jobs, or almost 11 per cent of its workforce. This is the biggest round of job cuts by the Southeast Asian tech giant since the pandemic, when it laid off around 360 employees in the year 2020.
Grab CEO Anthony Tan said the layoffs were not a "shortcut to profitability" but part of fundamental changes to the company's operating model and cost structure. He described the decision to lay off around 1,000 employees as a 'painful but necessary step'.
In a letter to Grab employees, Tan wrote, “I want to be clear that we are not doing this as a shortcut to profitability. Over the past couple of years we’ve been consistent in managing costs tightly in all areas of our operations and on improving platform efficiency”
“We must adapt to the environment in which we operate. Change has never been this fast. Technology such as Generative AI is evolving at breakneck speed. The cost of capital has gone up, directly impacting the competitive landscape.” Tan added
Grab's CEO noted that the main aim of the layoffs was to allow the company to reorganise itself to move faster, work smarter and rebalance its resources.
According to the Associated Press, Grab started as a taxi-hailing service in Malaysia in 2012 and later expanded its business to include ride-hailing, food delivery and financial services in eight Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Grab established itself as the largest ride-hailing company in Southeast Asia after acquiring Uber's business in the region in 2018.
AFP reported that many Southeast Asian tech companies have been cutting jobs to focus on profitability. Grab's rival in Indonesia laid off 1,300 staff, or about 12 per cent of its workforce, last year and another 600 in March this year. Singapore-based gaming company Sea Ltd laid off about 7,000 workers last year.
(With inputs from agencies)
