Grab founder's stake sheds billion-dollar mark after shares sink 20.5% by debut close

GRAB founder Anthony Tan was briefly a billionaire when Grab debuted on the Nasdaq with an opening price of US$13.06.

Anthony Tan's stake was worth about US$1.1 billion while co-founder Tan Hooi Ling's stake was worth US$333.7 million.

But their fortunes quickly reversed as the share price plunged 20.5 per cent to close at US$8.75 on Thursday (Dec 2). The slide wiped out about US$17 billion of Grab's market value, with Grab's market cap now sitting at US$34.5 billion.

This resulted in Anthony Tan's stake losing US$275 million to total US$725.4 million while Tan Hooi Ling's stake shrunk US$110.1 million to US$223.6 million.

Despite owing just 3.3 per cent of Grab's total shares, Anthony Tan has 60.4 per cent of the voting power due to Tan Hooi Ling's shares and Grab president Ming Maa's shares being held by trusts that appoints Anthony Tan the voting rights.

Grab's share performance has mirrored its other ride hailing peers on the Nasdaq, with Uber and Lyft seeing their share prices tank on the first day of trading. It is also similarly tracking its SPAC peers' performance, with most being negative post-mergers.

Read more:

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• Grab services disrupted in Singapore and other key South-east Asian markets