Ex-CEO of Indonesia's Gojek to keep stake as 'passive shareholder': spokesman

By Fanny Potkin

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Gojek’s ex-CEO and co-founder Nadiem Makarim, who is leaving the Indonesian ride-hailing and payments company to join President Joko Widodo’s cabinet, will keep his stake but without any advisory or executive role, a Gojek spokesman said on Tuesday.

“He will be a passive shareholder. No role within the business and no influence on the company,” the spokesman said, noting the ex-CEO would not sit on the company’s board.

He declined to specify the size of Makarim’s stake in Gojek, which is backed by tech giants Google and Tencent among others.

Gojek said on Monday that its president Andre Soelistyo and the other co-founder Kevin Aluwi would replace Makarim as co-CEOs.

Makarim, 35, told reporters on Monday that he had resigned from running operations at Gojek, which is valued at $10 billion.

He said it was a “a big honour to be able to join the cabinet” and that his specific role would be announced by Widodo later in the week.

Indonesian media have linked Makarim to a possible cabinet post in a new digital economy ministry or in education.

Gojek raised over $1 billion earlier this year from backers including Alphabet’s Google (O:) and Chinese tech giants Tencent (HK:) and JD (O:).

The company said in a statement on Tuesday that its ongoing series F fundraising round was “set to raise well over $2 billion”.

Having evolved from a ride-hailing service founded in 2010 to a one-stop app allowing users to make online payments and order food and services such as massages, Gojek is now targeting a larger slice of the Southeast Asian market, where Softbank-rival Grab currently dominates ride-sharing.

Representatives from Gojek backers including tech giants Google and Tencent as well as American global investor firm KKR expressed support for the new leadership in the statement.

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