Grab Holdings Ltd., which is based in Singapore and is the largest ride-hailing and food delivery service in Southeast Asia, is cutting costs to deal with an uncertain macroeconomic situation, the company’s CEO told staff in a memo.
A company spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo, which says that most new hires will be put on hold, senior managers’ salaries will be frozen, and travel and expense budgets will be cut.
“None of these decisions were easy, but they are meant to help us get leaner and fitter as we move even faster toward sustainable, profitable growth,” CEO Anthony Tan said in a memo sent to staff on Wednesday and seen by Reuters. “As we get ready for 2023, Grabbers need to be more careful and thrifty than ever before.”
Related: As Putin celebrates a territory grab, Russia launches attacks in eastern Ukraine.
Last month, Grab raised its revenue forecast for 2022, reported a smaller adjusted operating loss, and said that its food and grocery delivery business broke even three quarters earlier than the company expected.
Tan wrote in the memo that Southeast Asia has not been spared from the effects of rising prices and interest rates on growth and that this will not change.
Grab’s new steps “will also help us avoid knee-jerk reactions that could get in the way of our plans,” he said.
Grab, which has been around for a decade and is well-known in eight Southeast Asian countries, has been trying to stop losing money by focusing on customers who pay more and spending less on incentives. At the end of 2021, about 8,800 people worked for Grab in Singapore.