Ride - hailing service Uber could sell its struggling Southeast Asian operations to rival Grab for an equity investment , as the US company planned on its 2019 initial public offering . The potential move follows recent comments by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi , who told the Goldman Sachs Mobile and Internet Conference that " investing in developing countries is a significant negative but that is an optional investment " . Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco last week that Uber could sell off underperforming parts of its business in order to improve its finances ahead of an IPO in 2019. In 2016 , Uber cut its losses in China and merged with its competitor Didi , in exchange for a $ 1bn investment .
Ride - hailing service Uber could sell its struggling Southeast Asian operations to rival Grab for an equity investment , as the US company planned on its 2019 initial public offering . The potential move follows recent comments by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi , who told the Goldman Sachs Mobile and Internet Conference that " investing in developing countries is a significant negative but that is an optional investment " . In 2016 , Uber cut its losses in China and merged with its competitor Didi , in exchange for a $ 1bn investment .