the bottomline
JAKARTA:
Indonesian ride-hailing app Go-Jek said Thursday it would expand into Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines as it takes on regional rival Grab in the fast-growing Southeast Asian market.
The move marks Go-Jek’s first expansion outside Indonesia and comes after US-based Uber this year said it would sell its struggling business in the region to Singapore’s Grab.
Go-Jek operates a fleet of motorcycle taxis, private cars and other services — from massage and house cleaning to grocery shopping and food delivery — all available at smartphone users’ fingertips.
The company said it would invest $500 million in its international expansion, starting with ride-hailing services in the next few months. Other offerings would follow in the future, it said.
Go-Jek has won financial backing from investors including Google, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek and Chinese internet giant Tencent. (AFP)
SYDNEY:
Shareholders in Australian shopping centre giant Westfield overwhelmingly voted Thursday in favour of a record US$24.7 billion takeover by French property giant Unibail-Rodamco.
The proposal, unveiled in December, is the biggest-ever corporate takeover in Australia and will create a combined global portfolio of the merged companies.
Unibail-Rodamco is Europe’s biggest commercial landlord while Westfield has a large presence in the United States, Britain and Italy.
“I am pleased that you have approved the merger with UnibailRodamco and agreed with the board’s recommendation,” Westfield chairman Frank Lowy, who launched the company in 1960, said at his final annual general meeting. (AFP)
SHANGHAI:
Japanese retailer Muji has been fined 200,000 yuan ($31,300) in Shanghai for using packaging that lists Taiwan as a country, underscoring China’s growing sensitivity to how companies refer to the selfruled island.
This marks the second time Muji has been hit by such criticism from China this year, and comes after a number of foreign firms including Delta Air Lines and Marriott International Inc have apologised for similar actions.
Muji, which is owned by Ryohin Keikaku Co, imported 119 clothes hangers from Japan last year in packaging that marked Taiwan as the “country of origin”, the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce said in a statement. (RTRS)