Ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc. has agreed to sell its Southeast Asian business to bigger regional rival Grab, the firms said in a statement on Monday, marking the U.S. company's second retreat from an Asian market.
The deal is the industry's first big consolidation in Southeast Asia, home to about 640 million people, and puts pressure on Indonesia's Go-Jek — which is backed by Alphabet Inc.'s Google and China's Tencent Holdings Ltd.
A shake-up in Asia's fiercely competitive ride-hailing industry became likely earlier this year when SoftBank Group Corp.'s Vision Fund made a multibillion dollar investment in Uber. SoftBank also invested in Grab.