Hasan Zein Mahmud, the former boss of the Jakarta Stock Exchange, has been revealed as one of the shareholders of PT Goto Gojek Tokopedia Tbk. or GOTO. He disclosed that he purchased GOTO shares at prices of Rp 68 and Rp 66. "I also placed a bid at 64, but missed out," he said, quoted on Friday (22/3/2024).
Hasan elaborated on his reasons for buying GOTO shares, despite the current correction trend. After announcing its performance throughout 2023, GOTO's shares fell by 9.72% to Rp 65.
According to him, without understanding the underlying transactions, GOTO's losses indeed appear to be staggering. As known, the losses for the fiscal year 2023 swelled to Rp 90.52 trillion from the previous Rp 40.4 trillion.
Simultaneously, the asset value declined by 59% year-on-year from Rp 139 trillion to Rp 54 trillion. Equity experienced an even sharper decline, from Rp 123 trillion to Rp 36 trillion, down 71% year-on-year.
The losses throughout 2023 were triggered by the recognition of goodwill reversal amounting to Rp 78.8 trillion, as required by applicable financial accounting standards.
Quoting his official statement, this was the consequence of transactions involving Tokopedia and TikTok, resulting in the loss of GoTo's control over Tokopedia starting from February 1, 2024.
According to Hasan, there are several benefits to GOTO's strategy of divesting Tokopedia. Firstly, collaboration with Bytedance will open up other synergistic opportunities in the long run.
Tokopedia has been a burden, so GOTO will be able to focus more on its core business, namely on-demand services. Additionally, GOTO will also generate revenue without incurring costs, in the form of commissions from TikTok Shop every quarter.
However, divesting Tokopedia brings some accounting consequences for GOTO, such as Tokopedia's assets, liabilities, and equity being removed from GOTO's consolidation records. "That's what caused the sharp decline in assets and equity at the end of 2023," he said.
Then, the value of unamortized goodwill is directly charged to expenses. In the loss of Rp 90.52 trillion in the 2023 Financial Statements, including Rp 78.8 trillion from the goodwill impairment charge. If that figure is excluded, GOTO's net loss in 2023 decreased compared to 2022.
Hasan explained that the goodwill impairment charge is a non-cash expense. "If that expense were cash, GOTO would certainly default," he said.
Meanwhile, according to Hasan, at the end of 2023, GOTO's cash and cash equivalents were very significant, exceeding Rp 27 trillion.