'Absolute rubbish': Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal denies report of merger talks with Uber

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola

Cab aggregator platform Ola’s CEO and Co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal on July 29 junked all reports of a possible merger with competitor Uber and said “we will never merge”.

Rubbishing the report in a business daily that claimed that Aggarwal met Uber executives in San Francisco to discuss a merger, he said: “Absolute rubbish. We’re very profitable and growing well. If some other companies want to exit their business from India, they are welcome to! We will never merge.”

Absolute rubbish. We’re very profitable and growing well. If some other companies want to exit their business from India they are welcome to! We will never merge. https://t.co/X3wC9HDrnr

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) July 29, 2022

A Business Standard report quoted an Ola spokesperson as saying: “We are the market leader in India and are much bigger than other players. Hence, merger of any kind is completely out of the equation. We believe that India has a lot more opportunities to unlock when it comes to mobility services. As a strong vertically integrated mobility company we will further consolidate our position by any acquisition in the Indian market, if at all.”

Also read: Bhavish Aggarwal has big plans for Ola Electric, sets sights on global market

However, it may be noted that both companies have held talks on those lines in the past with common investor -- Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank – pushing them for a merger. While the deal fell through, talks of a merger had reportedly resurfaced after the COVID-19 pandemic hurt the prospects of the transportation industry.