SoftBank grabs a ticket to ride, and Uber is stranded

WHEN your largest shareholder also backs your rivals, and at the same time advises you to surrender some markets to them, you've got to wonder about motives.

The last thing Uber Technologies needs is yet another battle between management and investors, as ousted founder Travis Kalanick's troubles with Benchmark Capital are only just over. But selling operations in some South-east Asian markets to Grab in exchange for a stake of up to 20 per cent in its rival isn't a strategic retreat. It's a blunder of Himalayan proportions.

Uber's new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, should have pushed back more firmly against 15 per cent owner SoftBank Group's advice to concentrate on key markets in the US, Europe, Latin America and Australia. Having already relinquished China to Didi Chuxing, giving up on South-east Asia would be a precursor to perhaps losing India and Japan too - a blow from which the ride-hailing pioneer might never recover.