Ola Denies Merger With Uber Technologies

Ola and Uber Technologies are looking forward to a potential merger, the Economic Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. According to ET's latest news report, Ola Chief Executive Bhavish Aggarwal recently organised a meeting with top Uber executives in San Francisco, United States. The report did not disclose any financial details about a potential deal. Arguably, the potential merger was likely to revolve around the cab aggregators' India business where both companies could be sharing their fleet in the Indian market. However, Aggarwal took to Twitter denying the news and is calling it "absolute rubbish." "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," Aggarwal's tweet read.

Earlier this month, Ola had reportedly laid off nearly 500 employees on a performance basis across various departments and limited their operations because of ongoing funding issues. Ola had delayed their IPO plans to further expand overseas. The company also recently shut down its vehicle business - Ola Cars, which was almost a year old but didn't gain much revenue and business. "Ola has reassessed its priorities and decided to shut down Ola Dash - its quick commerce business. Ola will also be reorienting its Ola Cars business to focus more on strengthening the go-to-market strategy for Ola Electric," the company had said in a statement.

Ola's highly promoted Electric two-wheeler business is facing a government probe into battery fires. Leading EV fires could also affect Ola's target of selling 1 crore scooters a year. Ola's ride-hailing business currently has 1,100 employees, directly competing with Uber. The company has already shut down Ola Cafe, food panda, Ola Foods, and Ola Dash.