Ride-hailing firm Gojek lays off 430 staff

Indonesian ride-hailing firm Gojek has announced it would lay off 9% of its employees, or 430 workers as it looks to bolster the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A spokesman said the company would “prioritise its high-impact core businesses of payments, transport and food delivery in a long-term response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The lay-offs will primarily be in its lifestyle division GoLife, which offered cleaning and massage services.

The pandemic has battled the ride-hailing industry and Gojek is the latest company to retrench its employees.

Competitor Grab announced last week it will cut about 360 jobs, or some 5% of its headcount, after demand for its core ride-hailing services fell.

Anthony Tan, Grab’s CEO and co-founder, said this will be the last round of layoff across the company this year.

In March, Gojek decided to cut 25% of its senior management pay and all budgeted salary increases for the year, to help its drivers through these challenging times.

Gojek is finalising a more than US$3 billion (S$4.18 billion) investment round at a US$10 billion valuation, joined by Facebook as well as previous investors Tencent and Google.