According to media reports, people familiar with the matter revealed that Alibaba is negotiating an investment plan with Grab, a company in shared travel, food delivery services and payment solutions in Southeast Asia, and the amount involved may reach US$3 billion. Founded in 2012, Grab is the No. 1 Internet giant in Southeast Asia in terms of market share for taxi, meal delivery and mobile payment.

As of press time, affected by this news, Alibaba’s US stocks rose 1.52% before the market. Ali, which just hit a record high in early September, has adjusted nearly 9% in the past two weeks.

It is reported that Alibaba will become the sole investor in this round of Grab financing, and part of its equity comes from the travel giant Uber. If the deal is concluded, it will become the largest investment by Ali in Southeast Asia. Grab is known as the “Meituan, Didi and Ant Financial” of Southeast Asia, and was valued at $14 billion at the end of last year’s financing. But under the impact of the epidemic, the company’s CEO Anthony Tan said that he is facing the biggest crisis since its establishment. In June this year, the company announced layoffs of 5% of its employees to cut costs.