{"id":149971,"date":"2025-11-24T08:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T08:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/149971\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T08:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T08:22:07","slug":"goto-taps-new-ceo-in-step-toward-game-changing-grab-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/149971\/","title":{"rendered":"GoTo taps new CEO in step toward game-changing Grab takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

GoTo<\/a> Group appointed a new chief executive officer to replace Patrick Walujo, a move that\u2019s expected to speed the takeover of Indonesia\u2019s largest internet company by Grab Holdings Ltd.<\/p>\n

Chief operating officer Hans Patuwo will take the helm from Walujo, the company said Monday. His appointment\u2014which requires shareholder approval\u2014comes after GoTo co-founders and prominent investors including SoftBank Group<\/a> Corp. pushed for Walujo\u2019s ouster over a dismal stock performance.<\/p>\n

The change-up marks an about-face for GoTo, which in January said Walujo, 50, would run the company for years to come. The former investment banker helped usher the Indonesian ride-hailing and delivery giant to its first profit over a two-and-a-half-year tenure as CEO. But the company lost more than 40% of its value over the same period, and he also opposed a takeover by Singapore\u2019s Grab.<\/p>\n

Shares of GoTo climbed as much as 6.3% in Jakarta Monday, giving the company a market value of about $5 billion. Grab, traded in New York, has a market capitalization of $20 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transition could signal a pivot towards operational focus and revive the long-stalled proposed Grab-GoTo merger,\u201d Citigroup<\/a> Inc. analysts Ferry Wong and Ryan Davis wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patuwo, 49, is now set to steer a company mired in a persistent funk, grappling with a global shift towards artificial intelligence and preparing to revive talks with Grab. The likelihood of a takeover\u2014after years of on-and-off discussions\u2014is increasing after Indonesia\u2019s government said it\u2019s talking to the two companies about a deal.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, Danantara, is set to get\u00a0involved<\/a>\u00a0in a plan to combine the companies. The fund began exploring a minority stake in a combined entity early this year, people familiar with the matter said in\u00a0June<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Its involvement could smooth concerns that consumers will lose out in a marriage of the country\u2019s two biggest ride-hailing providers. \u201cDanantara\u2019s possible minority stake in a potential combined entity would serve as both a symbolic and structural safeguard of national interest,\u201d and would assuage monopoly concerns, the Citigroup analysts wrote.<\/p>\n

Patuwo joined the company more than seven years ago from an Indonesian conglomerate, according to his\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0profile. He started at the ride-hailing arm Gojek, building relationships with drivers and merchants and expanding its network across the country. Patuwo then moved to head payments and financial services.<\/p>\n

Among other leadership changes, GoTo said it\u2019s appointing co-founder Andre Soelistyo to the board of commissioners. In Indonesia, company commissioners typically function as a separate body from directors, serving as a sort of steering committee on matters including corporate governance.<\/p>\n

Soelistyo, who headed the company before he was replaced by Walujo, helped carry out the merger of Gojek and e-commerce firm Tokopedia that created Indonesia\u2019s biggest internet company. Previously, he was an executive director at Northstar Group, Walujo\u2019s former private equity firm.<\/p>\n

GoTo shareholders will vote on matters including the leadership shift in an extraordinary general meeting on Dec. 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GoTo Group appointed a new chief executive officer to replace Patrick Walujo, a move that\u2019s expected to speed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1877,114,85,1445,46,91627,91628],"class_list":["post-149971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bloomberg","tag-business","tag-il","tag-indonesia","tag-israel","tag-ride-hailing","tag-southeast-asia-500"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}