Tokopedia founder offloads $1.7m in GoTo shares

Photo credit: GoTo Group

GoTo Group‘s co-chairman William Tanuwijaya has sold a portion of his shares in the company, leading the group’s stock price to plummet before recovering by market close.

According to an Indonesia Stock Exchange filing, the Tokopedia co-founder sold 332,220,000 series A shares of GoTo Group. The deal was worth around US$1.7 million, though the number of shares equaled just 0.03% of the group’s total issued and fully paid-up capital.

In the disclosure, Tanuwijaya gave “urgent personal needs” as the reason for his share sale. Initially, the market reacted negatively, as GoTo Group’s stock price sank by as much as 19.4% shortly after the news surfaced.

Tech in Asia has reached out to GoTo Group for comment.

The sale cut Tanuwijaya’s stake in the company from 1.77% to 1.72%, though he remained GoTo Group’s biggest individual shareholder. According to another regulatory disclosure, his stake is larger than those of Gojek co-founder Kevin Aluwi, former Gojek CEO Andre Soelistyo, or current CEO Patrick Walujo.

Tanuwijaya’s move follows his transition to become the group’s co-chairman earlier this year after serving as Tokopedia CEO for its entire pre-merger existence. He was replaced by Melissa Siska Juminto, who was previously the ecommerce giant’s COO.

GoTo Group was born in May 2021 through the merger of Tokopedia and Gojek, two of the most successful startups in Indonesia, partly to challenge regional rivals such as Grab and Sea Group. GoTo’s market value has shrunk by more than 70% since its peak in November 2022, though the firm is inching closer to profitability.

The company recently secured US$150 million from the International Finance Corporation as part of a partnership that aims to improve financial inclusion and sustainability across Indonesia.

See also: SEA’s listed tech majors in 10 charts: GoTo’s operating margin improves, but lags peers