This weekly newsletter chronicles top digital themes and trends playing out in SE Asia, especially Indonesia. We will decode policy and regulatory changes affecting digital economy sectors, crunch earnings data of top players, track developments related to gig economy workers and attempt to piece together ecosystem buildouts in some of the fastest-growing, venture-backed plays. You can access the previous editions of the Vantage Point weekly posts here.
Executive Summary
- Grab aims at a leaner organisation with eye on future
- Indonesia’s multifinance space is suddenly buzzing
- J&T Express fast-tracks expansion plans, reignites IPO
- Big C’s planned IPO will provide Thai investors an alternative to CP All
Grab aims at a leaner organisation with eye on future
Last week’s announcement that Grab Holdings would be laying off around 11% of its workforce, or around 1,000 people, immediately raised questions as to whether this was part of efforts to reach its adjusted EBITDA breakeven target by Q4 2023. However, this is not the case.
The management stressed that that target was achievable even without the recently announced cuts. The layoffs were part of longer-term plans to provide the platform with a more competitive cost base, allowing it to be more nimble in executing its growth strategies. The aim is to create a more efficient organisational structure in order to reduce the cost to serve.
This is Grab’s first round of layoffs since the pandemic and adds to earlier cuts during COVID, bringing total layoffs to around 15% of its workforce to date.
The move will also help Grab move some jobs from high-cost locations such as Singapore or even Malaysia to lower-cost ones. Grab has been an exception in this case, as competitor GoTo is Jakarta-based and therefore enjoys a naturally lower cost base.
