New Gojek co-CEO says dual listing likely but no immediate IPO plans

Indonesian unicorn Gojek’s new joint chief executive officer Andre Soelistyo on Thursday said the ride-hailing and payments major is likely to go for a dual listing, with the IDX as its primary destination. He declined to divulge the second destination where the company could list its shares. Addressing a media briefing in Jakarta, the former Gojek group president said the company had no immediate plans to tap the public markets. “It’s fair to say that the [Indonesia stock] market is not well educated yet. Knowing that, if we can deliver on our mission of covering a larger part of the economy and building sizeable business opportunities, that’s comparable to some of the larger conglomerates in Indonesia such as Astra and BCA and some of the big banks,” Soelistyo said. “There will always be some opportunity because if we are successful in our journey, then we would be the index to Indonesian consumption because we cover transportation, shopping and payments which comprise the whole consumption base,” Soelistyo said. Gojek had on Monday announced the appointment of Soelistyo and Gojek co-founder Kevin Aluwi as its co-CEOs after co-founder and former CEO Nadiem Makarim’s exit. Makarim is set to become the country’s education and culture minister in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet. Nadiem’s departure comes at a critical juncture for Gojek as it has embarked on regional expansion beyond its home turf in an effort to displace arch-rival Grab as the number one ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia. Over the past year, Gojek has rolled out services in Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore – markets previously dominated by Grab following its acquisition of the Southeast Asia operations of ride-hailing major in early 2018. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Gojek, which initially only focused on transportation services, has transformed itself to become a super app, providing over 20 services ranging from payments, food delivery and logistics to entertainment, health and lifestyle. On Thursday, Soelistyo said the company remains on track to raise $2 billion in new capital by the end of this year, indicating the unicorn’s fundraising remains unimpacted by Makarim’s exit. He added that despite the leadership changes, it will be business as usual for Gojek in terms of its operations and plans ahead. Mobility, payments and food delivery will continue to be the company’s core areas of focus and it will seek to collaborate with third-party partners to provide other services. Gojek, Soelistyo said, will continue to invest in existing and new markets to achieve a 50:50 user base split between international and Indonesian markets. Currently, only 20 per cent of its transacting users are from outside of Indonesia. While most things will remain the same following Makarim’s departure, co-founder and new co-CEO Kevin Aluwi says it is inevitable that there will be a shift in the leadership style at Gojek. “Nadiem is definitely the mercurial, charismatic type,” Aluwi said. “The different approach that we’re going to bring to the table is going to be a lot more measured, a lot more process-driven to really focus the company on the right things versus too much experimentation.” Aluwi said that Gojek has now reached a point in its size and scale that requires it to “switch gears and approach things differently.” “This has nothing to do with Nadiem as a person, but I think that his style was the right style for the right time, but now we’re in a different time, and we will operate appropriately,” Aluwi said.