Singapore-headquartered Grab Holdings Ltd, Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing and food delivery firm, is implementing cost-cutting measures to cope with an uncertain macroeconomic situation, Reuters reported, citing the company’s Chief Executive Officer’s memo to its staff.
The measures include a freeze on most hirings, salary freezes for senior managers and cuts in travel and expense budgets, according to the memo.
“None of these decisions were easy, but are meant to help us get leaner and fitter, as we accelerate even faster towards sustainable, profitable growth,” Grab CEO Anthony Tan said in the memo, which was sent to the staff on Wednesday and was viewed by Reuters. “More so than ever, all Grabbers need to adopt a frugal and prudent mindset as we prepare for 2023.”
Tan said in the memo that Southeast Asia has not, and will not, be spared from rising prices and interest rates, and the consequent effects on growth.
Grab’s new measures “will also help us avert knee-jerk reactions that may interrupt our plans down the road,” he reportedly said.
According to the memo, the NASDAQ-listed firm would “freeze the majority of current open job requisitions which are not in offer stage”. Tan wrote that requests to backfill and fill critical roles would need to be approved.
Certain leaders at the company would not be eligible for raises in their upcoming reviews, while the travel and expense budget will be reduced by another 20 percent from the last guidance.
Tan said the company has been cautious with how it has spent money over the past two years, streamlining some businesses, tapering down incentives as well as slowing down hiring. These measures had helped Grab get closer to its profitability goals, he said.
Last month, the company reported that its revenue surged 143 percent year on year to $382 million in the third quarter ended September 30, driven by strong growth in mobility and deliveries revenue. Loss for the quarter was $342 million.
Grab has revised FY2022 revenue guidance to $1.32 billion to $1.35 billion, up from $1.25 billion to $1.30 billion.
It has also revised second-half adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) guidance to negative $315 million, $65 million improvement from negative $380 million.
Grab announced in September that it is targeting to achieve breakeven on a group adjusted EBITDA basis by the second half of 2024, as it accelerates its path to profitability.
Listed in New York about a year ago, Grab has shed near to 70 percent of its market value. It was Southeast Asia’s most valuable start-up at the time it merged with Altimeter Growth Corp, the blank-cheque firm of Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital Management, securing a valuation of nearly $40 billion.
Grab was trading at $3.31 per share at the time of writing, giving it a market capitalization of $12.75 billion.