Gojek has had its sights on an initial public offering (IPO) since 2018.
In the last few days, its co-founder Nadiem Makarim resigned as CEO to join Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s Cabinet, and was appointed the country’s new Minister of Education and Culture.
Only remaining as a “passive shareholder” with no executive or advisory role in Gojek, Makarim passed on his US$10 billion company to co-CEOs Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi.
But these leadership changes won’t be affecting the ride-hailing unicorn’s IPO plans.
According to Tech In Asia (TIA), Soelistyo addressed the media on 24 October 2019, saying that Gojek is “already moving along with the journey”.
Soelistyo said the firm has been doing a lot to “build better governance” and working to reach “that world class standard that global public companies are at”.
One of Gojek’s aims is also to grow their overseas markets to make up 50% of their user base, alongside Indonesian users as the other 50%. Currently, their home market still strongly dominates, counting about 80% of all their users.
Soelistyo did not share a specific timeline for Gojek to go public.
However, the firm’s target could be “within the next three to four years” according to Indonesian business publication The Insider Stories, which spoke to Gojek Vice President of Corporate Affairs Michael Say.
While the current co-CEO model may raise concerns about the lack of a clear leader, Gojek’s investors mostly remain confident in the company.
For one, Hian Goh of Openspace Ventures told TIA that Gojek’s smooth succession of leadership is “testament to the depth of the management team and the resilience of the company and the people running it today”.
Gojek’s independent commissioner Garibaldi Thohir, an energy industry tycoon in Indonesia, has also asserted his belief that “in the future, every part of Gojek’s business will be profitable”.
Featured Image Credit: Kampusnesia
