FROM MERGER TO DIVESTITURE: FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE, ECONOMIC VALUE ADDED, AND MARKET REACTION TO GOTO’S SALE OF TOKOPEDIA TO BYTEDANCE
Main Article Content
Dhea Rakhmatika Utami
Yunieta Anny Nainggolan
Subiakto Soekarno
This studies examines how PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GoTo) is affected by its decision to divest most of its shares in Tokopedia to ByteDance (TikTok), while keeping a minority stake and forming a commercial partnership. Before this step, GoTo tried to build a “super-app” that combined Gojek’s on-demand services, Tokopedia’s e-commerce, and GoPay. However, even after the merger and IPO, GoTo still recorded large losses, high cash burn, and a declining share price, so it is important to test whether the divestiture really supports long-term value creation. The research uses a single-case, explanatory design covering 2022–2024. It relies only on secondary data: audited financial statements, annual reports, daily stock prices of GoTo. JK and the Jakarta Composite Index (IHSG), press releases, and news. The analysis has three parts: (i) financial ratio analysis (revenue growth, operating margin, EBITDA, net profit margin, ROA, ROE); (ii) Economic Value Added (EVA), using NOPAT, invested capital, and a WACC estimated with CAPM; and (iii) an event study with a market-adjusted model to measure abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) around the announcement of the Tokopedia–TikTok transaction. The results show that GoTo’s operating performance improves after the divestiture: operating margins become less negative, EBITDA turns positive in 2024, and net loss decreases, although EVA remains negative, even if the value destruction becomes smaller over time. The event study finds short-term positive abnormal returns around the announcement, indicating that investors initially welcome the deal, even though share-price volatility shows remaining concerns. Overall, the thesis concludes that the divestiture makes GoTo smaller, more focused, and more disciplined, but it has not yet fully solved the problem of negative EVA.
ongitudinal Study. Strategic Management Journal, 22(3), 197–220. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.157
Batsakis, G., Mohr, A., Konara, P., & Koritos, C. (2024). The Effect of Foreign Divestment on Subsequent Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Spatial and Temporal Dispersion of Prior Divestment Experience. British Journal Management, 35, 1763–178. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12786
Bergh, D. D. (1998). Predicting Divestiture of Unrelated Acquisitions: An Integrative Model of Ex Ante Conditions. Strategic Management Journal, 18(9), 715–731. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199710)18:9<715::AID-SMJ912>3.0.CO;2-6
Bodie, Z., Kane, A., & Marcus, A. J. (2014). Investments (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Brealey, R. A., Myers, S. C., & Allen, F. (2019). Principles of Corporate finance (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Brigham, E. F., & Ehrhardt, M. C. (2017). Financial Management: Theory and Practice (15th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Business Indonesia. (2023). TikTok Resumes Indonesian Operation With US$1.5 Bn investment in Tokopedia. Business-Indonesia.Org. https://business-indonesia.org/news/tiktok-resumes-indonesian-operation-with-us-1-5-bn-investment-in-tokopedia
ByteDance. (2025). Our Mission: Inspire Creativity, Enrich Life. Bytedance.Com. https://www.bytedance.com/
Chambers and Partners. (2022). PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (“GoTo”)’s Initial Public Offering. Chambers.Com. https://chambers.com/articles/pt-goto-gojek-tokopedia-tbk-goto-s-initial-public-offering
Cloodt, M., Hagedoorn, J., & Kranenburg, H. Van. (2006). Mergers and acquisitions: Their effect on the innovative performance of companies in high-tech industries. Research Policy, 35(5), 642–654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2006.02.007
Comment, R., & Jarrell, G. A. (1995). Corporate Focus and Stock Returns. Journal of Financial Economics, 37(1), 67–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00777-X
Dranikoff, L., Koller, T., & Schneider, A. (2002). Divestiture: Strategy’s Missing Link. Harvard Business Review, 80(5), 74–83. https://hbr.org/2002/05/divestiture-strategys-missing-link
Erl, L., Kiesel, F., & Schiereck, D. (2024). The Diversity of Divestiture: Stock Market Reactions Around Divestiture Program Announcements. Review of Managerial Science, 19, 2729–2773. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-024-00830-5
Fama, E. F. (1970). Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work. American Finance Association, 25(21), 383–417.
Fama, E. F., Fisher, L., Jensen, M. C., & Roll, R. (1969). The Adjustment of Stock Prices to New Information. International Economic Review, 10(1), 1–21. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2525569
Gitman, L. J., Juchau, R., & Flanagan, J. (2015). Principles of Managerial Finance (4th ed.). Pearson Higher Education Australia.
Gojek. (2025). Gojek Been Quite a Ride: Know Our Journey, and The People Behind It. Gojek.Com. https://www.gojek.com/en-id/about
GoTo Company. (2025). GoTo Group Beats Guidance with Record Results as it Reports 2024 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings. Gotocompany.Com. https://www.gotocompany.com/en/news/press/goto-group-beats-guidance-with-record-results-as-it-reports-2024-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-earnings
Haynes, M., Thompson, S., & Wright, M. (2002). The Impact of Divestment on Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence from a Panel of UK Companies. The Journal of Industrial Economics, 50(2), 173–196. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6451.00173
Jensen, M. C. (1986). Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers. The American Economic Review, 76(2), 323–329. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1818789
John, K., & Ofek, E. (1995). Asset Sales and Increase in Focus. Journal of Financial Economics, 37(1), 105–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00794-2
Koller, T., Goedhart, M., & Wessels, D. (2020). Valuation: Measuring and Managing The Value of Companies (7th ed.). Wiley.
Lee, D., & Madhavan, R. (2010). Divestiture and Firm Performance: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Management, 36(6), 1345–1371. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309360
MacKinlay, A. C. (1997). Event Studies in Economics and Finance. Journal of Economic Literature, 35(1), 13–39. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2729691
Meznar, M. B., Nigh, D., & Kwok, C. C. Y. (1994). Effect of Announcements of Withdrawal from South Africa on Stockholder Wealth. The Academy of Management Journal, 37(6), 1633–1648. https://doi.org/10.5465/256803
Michaely, R., Thaler, R. H., & Womack, K. L. (1995). Price Reactions to Dividend Initiations and Omissions: Overreaction or Drift? The Journal of Finance, 50(2), 573–608. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1995.tb04796.x
Moeller, S. B., Schlingemann, F. P., & Stulz, R. M. (2005). Wealth Destruction on a Massive Scale? A Study of Acquiring-Firm Returns in the Recent Merger Wave. Journal of Finance, 60(2), 757–782. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2005.00745.x
Nassirtoussi, A. K., Aghabozorgi, S., Wah, T. Y., & Ngo, D. C. L. (2014). Text Mining for Market Prediction: A Systematic Review. Expert Systems with Applications, 41(16), 7653–7670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2014.06.009
Pan, Y., Wang, T. Y., & Weisbach, M. S. (2016). CEO Investment Cycles. The Review of Financial Studies, 29(11), 2955–2999. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhw033
Stewart, G. B. (1991). The Quest For Value: A Guide For Senior Managers. HarperBusiness.
Suganda, T. R., & Sumani, S. (2019). The Impact of Divestment Decisions on Firms’ Financial Performance. Jurnal Keuangan Dan Perbankan, 23(2), 123–135.
Sulaiman, S., Potkin, F., & Daga, A. (2022). GoTo Makes Strong Debut, Lifts Mood for Indonesia Tech Sector. Reuters.Com. https://www.reuters.com/technology/indonesias-goto-soars-18-debut-after-11-bln-ipo-2022-04-11/
Teschner, C. (2021). Stock Price Reaction to Corporate Divestitures. Journal of Applied Accounting Research, 22(4), 752–773.
Tokopedia. (2025). Tokopedia: Kisah Kami. Tokopedia.Com. https://www.tokopedia.com/about/our-story/
Weisbach, M. S. (1995). CEO Turnover and The Firm’s Investment Decisions. Journal of Financial Economics, 37(2), 59–188. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00793-Z
Willis Towers Watson. (2019). Majority of Companies Lose Value From Divestitures, Research Shows. GlobeNewswire. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/02/26/1742547/0/en/Majority-of-companies-lose-value-from-divestitures-research-shows.html
Young, S. D., & O’Byrne, S. F. (2001). EVA and Value-Based Management. McGraw-Hill Education.
Zheng, W. (2025). Mosaic of State Power: How ‘New’ State Capitalism Shapes Global Tech Capital. Big Data & Society, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517251398728
