'Absolute rubbish...' Ola, Uber deny talks of merger

Amidst reports of talks getting underway for a possible merger with competitor Uber, Ola has come out and refuted the report. It further reiterated that the company would never merge. 

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In a tweet, Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said: "Absolute rubbish. We are very profitable and growing well. If some other companies want to exit their business from India, they are welcome to! We will never merge."

News agency Reuters reported that Uber, too, had quashed media reports about the merger report. "That report is inaccurate. We are not, nor have we been, in merger talks with Ola," Uber said in a statement.

The cab aggregators have spent several billions in providing incentives to their driver partners and discounts to passengers. 

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It should be noted that Uber sold its local food delivery business 'Uber Eats' to Zomato Limited in January 2020, while Ola shut down its grocery delivery business. 

Few years back, the two cab aggregators were in talks to merge after their common investor SoftBank had pushed them for a merger. The deal could not be concluded then. 

Currently, Ola has a total workforce of about 5,000 people. Two years ago, the company announced that it was laying off 1,400 employees, or over 33 per cent of its workforce, as Covid-19 continued to hurt the transport industry. The Bengaluru-based firm said it had to resort to sackings because the situation was not expected to improve anytime soon.

In fact, Ola has delayed its initial public offering which is now likely to happen in early 2023.

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• Ola
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