Despite the weak market, Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab is not expected to lay off staff on a large scale.

CTOnews.com, Sept. 25 (Reuters)-Grab, Southeast Asia's largest ride-hailing and takeout company, is not making large-scale layoffs like some of its competitors, but is hiring selectively while controlling its financial services ambitions.

Alex Hungate, chief operating officer of Grab, said that earlier this year, Grab had been worried about the global recession and was "very cautious and wise about any recruitment", so it did not reach the point of "despair" of a hiring freeze or mass layoffs.

In his first interview since joining Grab in January, Hungate said: "around the middle of the year, we did some restructuring. I know other companies have been laying off staff on a large scale, but we don't think we fall into this category."

Although each recruitment is a bigger decision than ever, the company is still recruiting positions in data science, mapping technology and other professional areas, he says. "We need to make sure money is saved. the threshold for recruitment must have been raised."

Grab, a household name in Southeast Asia, has a history of 10 years. By the end of 2021, the company had about 8800 employees.

CTOnews.com learned that Grab operates in 480 cities in eight countries and has more than 5 million registered drivers and more than 2 million merchants on the platform. Grab's share price has fallen about 60% so far this year and now has a market capitalization of $10.6 billion (about 75.684 billion yuan).