Grab loses second top executive in six months as President quits

Grab this month posted its first-ever profit on adjusted basis, a milestone for the decade-old company. — Reuters

SINGAPORE (Bloomberg): Grab Holdings Ltd. President Ming Maa is leaving the South-East Asian ride-hailing and food delivery company, the second top executive to step down in the past six months.

Maa, 46, is leaving at the end of April to "to devote more time to family matters” in the US and other interests, the company said in a statement Tuesday (Nov 14). He’ll work on corporate development activities until his departure.

Grab this month posted its first-ever profit on adjusted basis, a milestone for the decade-old company trying to convince investors of its earnings potential. While Grab leads Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing and delivery markets, it has yet to reach net income as it’s forced to keep spending to fend off rivals such as Indonesia’s GoTo.

The company won’t replace Maa as other senior managers will assume the role’s responsibilities.

In May, co-founder Tan Hooi Ling said she’d step down from her operational roles by the end of the year. Tan will formally leave the board from Dec 31, Grab said. She’ll be an adviser to Grab for an initial period of two years starting from Jan 1 2024, and has agreed not to sell more than 50% of her stake before Jan 1, 2025.

Shares of Grab, which had been one of South-East Asia’s hottest startups, are down about two-thirds since it went public through a US blank-check company in late 2021. Still, they’ve stabilized this year as its losses narrowed, outperforming its main regional rivals.