The Foodpanda Indonesia operation is up for sale, another chapter in the Rocket Internet-founded delivery service’s tale of woe in Asia.
TechCrunch has reported that “multiple sources” confirmed not only is the Indonesian business up for sale but the company is “evaluating its presence in the rest of Southeast Asia as part of a push towards profitability”.
Earlier this year Foodpanda co-founder and CEO Ralf Wenzel claimed the company was making a profit in Europe and the Middle East – but not Asia. It sold its Vietnam business last year and has denied multiple reports it is attempting to sell its Indian business. In Hong Kong it closed down an upmarket Foodpanda spin-off last year just weeks after its launch, disguising it as a merger.
In a statement to TechCrunch, the company enigmatically said: “Foodpanda has grown very fast in Southeast Asia over the last couple of months and strengthened its market leading position in the region. Driven by our increased dominance in the region we have experienced interest from a variety of different parties to partner or to invest which we are evaluating now.”
But is that the case?
“Multiple sources close to the company told TechCrunch that its business in Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, is available to potential acquirers for less than $1 million – and an all-cash deal isn’t even a requirement,” TechCrunch reported.
One of the online news service’s sources said the company had tired for a year to sell the Indonesian operations, and had now cut the asking price to “basically zero”.
