Acquisition Of His Business In Thailand, AirAsia Boss Says He Wants To Learn From Gojek

Gojek Thailand will now synergize with AirAsia. (photo: Afif Kusuma/Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Gojek has again strengthened its business entities overseas by establishing a partnership with the AirAsia Group. Later, PT Application Karya Anak Bangsa will hand over the operations of Gojek Thailand to AirAsia Digital.

Not long ago, Gojek also collaborated with Tokopedia, which made the two of them build GoTo. Now, through its partnership with AirAsia, Gojek will get a stake in the AirAsia super app, which is estimated to be worth US$1 billion or equivalent to Rp14.5 trillion.

"We are proud and very grateful for all the achievements of Gojek Thailand, as well as to all customers, driver-partners, and merchant partners who have always been loyal. They are the ones who are always the focus of what we do," said Gojek Chief Executive Officer Kevin Aluwi in his statement, Wednesday, July 7.

At the same time, Gojek will also increase investment in Vietnam and Singapore as centers of their international business growth. Specifically in Singapore, Gojek will increase the number of driver-partners and merchants, improve user experience, and launch new products and services, such as the launch of the latest GoTaxi product or taxi messaging services through the Gojek application in Singapore.

Then in Vietnam, Gojek will soon launch the GoCar four-wheeled transportation service. This service complements the two-wheeled services, logistics, and food delivery services that are already available. "Both markets provide optimal return on investment with the best strategic growth opportunities," said Kevin.

Meanwhile, AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandez acknowledged the announcement of this acquisition is not only the beginning of an extraordinary long-term strategic partnership with Gojek that will shake up the industry. However, he also learned how the ride-hailing service could achieve its success.

"Therefore, I need to learn a lot from them. Of course, this acquisition is not only about Thailand, but also about how I learned from Gojek in building its business operations in Thailand, which was taken from their success in Indonesia and Singapore," explained Fernandez.

"So, Gojek's value for digital Air Asia is firstly business acquisition, second is the relationship with Gojek employees and third is the collaboration that we can do together and complement each other," he added.

Finally, Fernandez also admitted that he was not influenced by the existing big names, and claimed that it was not too late to enter the industry.