Grab Shares Dive After Outlook Miss Highlights Internet Downturn
(Bloomberg) — Grab Holdings Ltd. shares plunged after it predicted full-year revenue that trailed estimates, suggesting caution around a Southeast Asian ride-hailing and food delivery market where GoTo Group remains a formidable rival.
Most Read from Bloomberg
The company expects a 19% to 22% rise in sales to $3.33 billion to $3.4 billion this year, just shy of the $3.5 billion average of analyst projections polled by Bloomberg. The company logged a smaller-than-expected 23% decline in quarterly net income. But it also spent almost 30% more on incentives to boost usage of rides, meal delivery and financial services during the period, reflecting growing competition on multiple fronts.
Its shares fell around 11% during US postmarket trading.
“We always take a more of a conservative view when we give guidance at the beginning of the year,” Chief Financial Officer Peter Oey said in an interview, adding that the company’s outlook has often improved as the year progresses.
“We should be positive net income in 2025,” he said. Regarding the surge in incentives in the quarter just ended, Oey later said on an earnings call that such costs move up and down and that the fluctuation is intentional.
After years of spending to gain market share and fend off competition, Grab is taking steps to become a more financially mature company. Like its backer, Uber Technologies Inc., it’s slashed jobs and reined in spending to pivot toward profitability. The region’s largest ride-hailing and food delivery player has also pushed into new areas through acquisitions.
In a move that would upend the regional market, Grab is now weighing a takeover of GoTo at a valuation of more than $7 billion. While the regulatory hurdles are considerable, both companies have accelerated talks for a combination to end years of losses, Bloomberg News reported.
What Bloomberg Intelligence Says
Grab’s 2025 guidance suggests revenue will grow at about 2024’s reported 19% rate, while adjusted Ebitda margin could widen further despite intensified competition in its bread-and-butter businesses. Its well-established user and rider ecosystems are a strong defense that it will need to stand against rivals including Sea’s ShopeeFood, which overtook Gojek to become the No. 3 food-delivery app in Southeast Asia, according to Momentum Works.
Story Continues
-Nathan Naidu, analyst
Click here for research
Grab is also betting on new initiatives in areas from digital finance to its core delivery services, saying last year that such efforts should help its revenue accelerate from 2025. Growth has cooled dramatically from triple-digit rates in years past as customers in the region curb spending to cope with elevated inflation and interest rates.
(Updates with details from company statement and analyst commentary)
————-Businessweek
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
