TIP821: GRAB HOLDINGS (GRAB): WHY UBER SURRENDERED SOUTHEAST ASIA

W/ SHAWN O’MALLEY & DANIEL MAHNCKE

TIP821: GRAB HOLDINGS (GRAB): WHY UBER SURRENDERED SOUTHEAST ASIA W/ SHAWN O’MALLEY & DANIEL MAHNCKE

06 June 2026

Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahncke explore Grab Holdings (ticker: GRAB).

In this episode, you’ll learn how Grab was able to quickly grow across eight countries in Southeast Asia, and what local adaptations they made to outmaneuver Uber, which eventually ceded its entire market share to Grab.  

Despite Grab’s astronomical successes, the company’s stock is down 70% since IPO, and investors are wondering if perhaps now is finally a good entry point after the company reached its first full year of profitability. Shawn and Daniel discuss and estimate Grab’s intrinsic value, plus so much more!

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IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • How Grab was able to outcompete Uber
  • What unique advantages Grab has been able to take advantage of in Southeast Asia
  • Why Grab’s lending business fits so naturally into its flywheel
  • What are the biggest risks facing the company 
  • Why Grab’s profit margins are inflecting so dramatically, and where they could land
  • What makes Southeast Asia such an appealing market to invest in long-term
  • How to think about Grab’s intrinsic value and attractiveness as an investment
  • Whether Shawn and Daniel decide to add Grab to the Intrinsic Value Portfolio
  • And much, much more!

Disclosure: This episode and the resources on this page are for informational and educational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. For full disclosures, see link.

TRANSCRIPT

Disclaimer: The transcript that follows has been generated using artificial intelligence. We strive to be as accurate as possible, but minor errors and slightly off timestamps may be present due to platform differences.

[00:00:03] Shawn O’Malley: Should we do it?

[00:00:04] Daniel Mahncke: Ready when you are.

[00:00:05] Shawn O’Malley: Right. All right, so imagine you’re stepping into a boardroom, right? And you’re there to pitch to an investment committee and your opening slide highlights a company. Well, they just lost three and a half billion dollars in a single year, and this was not all that long ago.

[00:00:19] Shawn O’Malley: And that company also operates across, well, eight entirely different countries. So they’re juggling volatile currencies, fractured regulatory regimes, and they’re just relying heavily on a massive fleet of independent contractors riding through, you know, some of the most congested cities on the planet.

[00:00:35] Daniel Mahncke: Well, that does sound like a logistical nightmare on paper, I would say.

[00:00:40] Shawn O’Malley: Yeah, you would probably get laughed out of the room, honestly.

[00:00:43] Daniel Mahncke: I don’t know, Shawn, but you’re not really selling me on the pitch that you will do in a couple of minutes.

[00:00:47] Shawn O’Malley: Okay. Okay. But what if, on the next slide you revealed that this exact same company had fundamentally rewired the daily economic reality of more than 600 million people.

[00:01:02] Intro: Since 2014, with more than 200 million downloads. We have interviewed the world’s best investors, studied deeply the principles of value investing, and uncovered many compelling investment opportunities. We focus on understanding businesses and intrinsic value, investing accordingly and sharing everything we learn with you. This show is not investment advice. It’s intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own, and they may have investments in the securities discussed. Now for your host, Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahncke.

[00:01:48] Daniel Mahncke: So, where do you want to start, Shawn?

[00:01:50] Shawn O’Malley: As I was saying, the company I’ll be pitching today, Grab has transformed from a cash-burning ride-hailing app into an increasingly profitable pillar of Southeast Asian economies. And the question is whether that integration into people’s lives in emerging markets can mean attractive returns for us.

[00:02:10] Daniel Mahncke: Well, that’s right. So what that means is that we are here, of course, to assess yet another business for our intrinsic value portfolio that we manage alongside our colleague Kyle Grieve. And I have to say, this is an interesting one, not only because you know, the business is quite similar to Uber’s, which is obviously one of our largest portfolio holdings, but also because we’ve had the chance to actually connect directly with the investor relations team at Grab.

[00:02:34] Shawn O’Malley: Yeah. And not just that, we’re currently planning on interviewing Grab’s CFO on YouTube, so if everything goes to plan, you’ll see that in a few weeks. So keep an eye out for that, folks, and you can subscribe to our YouTube channel in the show notes for updates on that. But yeah, the story today is, it’s going to overlap in some ways with another one of our portfolio holdings, Mercado Libre, because like MELI, Grab has leaned into consumer finance in developing markets to help drive consumption.

[00:03:00] Shawn O’Malley: And funny enough, one of MELI’s biggest competitors, Sea Limited, which owns Shopee, is also a player in Southeast Asia that Grab has bumped up against. I think we have a lot to discuss today.

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