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Singapore tech firm Grab slashes 1,000 jobs to rein in costs
- The move will affect 11 per cent of the ride-hailing and food delivery app’s workforce – months after it said it had no plans for mass lay-offs
- Grab CEO Anthony Tan said the decision was not ‘a short cut to profitability’ but a strategic reorganisation to adapt to the business environment
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Singapore-based Grab Holdings, Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing and food delivery app, is cutting 1,000 jobs or 11 per cent of its workforce, its CEO said on Tuesday, citing the need to manage costs and ensure more affordable services long-term.
In a letter sent to employees late on Tuesday and seen by reporters, chief executive Anthony Tan said the cuts, the biggest since the start of the pandemic, were not “a short cut to profitability” but a strategic reorganisation to adapt to the business environment.
“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 said in the letter.
“We must combine our scale with nimble execution and cost leadership, so that we can sustainably offer even more affordable services and deepen our penetration of the masses.”
Tan said that even without lay-offs, Grab had managed costs and should hit its target for group adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) break even this year.
The “superapp”, founded in 2012, offers deliveries, rides and financial services in eight Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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