A Malaysian government source says regulators have approved the proposed acquisition of Gojek’s business in Thailand by AirAsia.
It would also suggest how Gojek is reshaping its regional business in the wake of its announcement in May that it would merge with Tokopedia, one of Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platforms, to form GoTo. AirAsia has been working on building its own “superapp,” with co-founder Tony Fernandes publicly stating his intention to compete with Gojek and Grab, its Singapore-based rival, which is headed for a US stock market listing this year.
AirAsia has been present in Thailand’s aviation industry since 2003 via Thai AirAsia. It currently operates in Malaysia and Singapore while its stand-alone cargo company Teleport is present in major countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand.