JAKARTA – After becoming the public’s hot topic since late 2023, PT GOTO Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GOTO) finally sent official words regarding the acquisition of Tokopedia by the giant video platform from China, Tiktok.

It is reported that Tiktok has officially acquired 38,198,745 new shares of Tokopedia, equal to 75.01% of shares, worth USD 1.84 billion. Said value is made up of total new shares’ value of USD 840 million and promissory note of USD 1 billion.

Prior to this transaction, 100% of Tokopedia’s shares were worth USD 606 million, equal to IDR 9.4 trillion. With total shares reaching 12,726,215 shares, the price of the share clocks up to IDR 739.3 per share.

It is worth mentioning that the purchase price of Tokopedia’s shares by Tiktok ws set to IDR 747,87 per share, or 1.14% higher than the market value.

Based on Incidental Public Expose today (28/2), GOTO is now only controlling 24.99% of Tokopedia. According to Patrick Walujo, President Director of GOTO, with this deconsolidation, the company no longer has to spend funds and capital on Tokopedia.

It is also mentioned that not only GOTO can save costs, it may generate recurring income from Tokopedia in the form of e-commerce service fee.

“GOTO will receive e-commerce service fee every quarter, calculated from a percentage of fee in a sliding range and the GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) of Tokopedia post-integration with Tiktok,” explained Jacky Lo, Director of Finance of GOTO, on the same occasion.

Until Q3 2023, GMV of Tokopedia was projected to reach USD 2.9 billion. Therefore, the e-commerce service fee gained by GOTO may reach USD 11.4 million per quarter. “This e-commerce fee will rise along with Tokopedia’s growth,” added Lo.

Walujo further mentioned that with this recurring income per quarter, GOTO may now focus on developing its on-demand service segment.

According to Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo, Director of On-Demand Services of GOTO, this on-demand service business unit was reported helping GOTO to reach a positive adjusted EBITDA in Q4 2023, the first since GOTO debuted in the stock exchange.

However, based on GOTO’s information disclosure late January 2024, there will an additional loss recorded in the Financial Report of GOTO of IDR 80.3 trillion due to this deconsolidation, resulted from goodwill reversal.

“However, it is only a matter of accounting standard of reporting; it does not impact cash flow, and it does not reflect operational performance of the company,” said R. A. Koesoemohadiani, Corporate Secretary of GOTO, to reassure the public.

For the record, the progress of Tiktok and Tokopedia integration is reported nearing completion. “The partnership of Tiktok and Tokopedia will be ready to operate in 1,5 months,” Walujo revealed.

In order to comply with government regulation, Tiktok will only have a role in product promotion, while the transaction process will be handled by the electronic system (back-end) of Tokopedia. (ZH)