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Grab: How losing billions and falling 20% on IPO is a path to success in the digital economy

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Grab: How losing billions and falling 20% on IPO is a path to success in the digital economy

Profit is a dirty word if you have global ambitions.

Michael Petraeus
Dec 6, 2021
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Grab: How losing billions and falling 20% on IPO is a path to success in the digital economy

www.critical.sg
grab nasdaq

As I’m sure you’ve already heard, Grab had its big day on Nasdaq yesterday (December 2), having finally gone public at a valuation of around US$40 billion, raising US$4.5 billion in the process. You can read all about it elsewhere, though — I’m not going to rob the market analysts of their jobs.

Instead, I’d like to turn your attention to something else: why is Grab even considered a great business?

You may be wondering how is it possible that a company which has burned through billions of dollars — recently posting a loss of US$988 million for Q3 2021 alone — and is yet to turn a profit, can be considered successful, let alone achieve a multibillion dollar valuation on a prime US stock exchange?

After a brief spike, Grab’s stock collapsed 20 per cent below its IPO listing price, but even that didn’t dampen the spirits of its founders and investors. Are they crazy?

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Grab: How losing billions and falling 20% on IPO is a path to success in the digital economy

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