Just Eat Takeaway.com NV is in talks to buy U.S. meal-delivery company Grubhub Inc, in a bid to launch itself in the U.S. and become a major rival to Uber Technologies Inc.
Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com is in “advanced discussions” for an all-share deal, it said in a statement Wednesday. Just Eat Takeaway.com shares fell as much as 15%, the most on record.
Uber shares also tumbled after a report said the ride-hailing company is close to ending its own merger talks with Grubhub due to antitrust concerns. Grubhub (GRUB) will likely merge with a European rival instead, according to CNBC’s David Faber. Uber (UBER) fell 4% to $35.14 on the report. A spokesperson for Uber declined to comment.
The report comes less than two months after the Dutch food delivery company received antitrust clearance from the U.K.’s authority for its multi-billion dollar acquisition of Just Eat Plc. The probe had required the two companies to be held separate after both sides agreed to a merger earlier this year.
Like food delivery companies around the world, Just Eat Takeaway also saw a boost in sales during the pandemic as people were ordered to stay home. In April, Takeaway said it saw a 50% jump in first-quarter orders.
Clinching GrubHub following the Just Eat deal would mark another major deal by billionaire Jitse Groen, the Dutch business man who created Takeaway in 2000 in his dorm room at the University of Twente in the town of Enschede, near the German border. In an interview with Bloomberg in June 2018, Groen stressed that in his view “the most value is in being the largest, by far.”
The Grubhub deal was seen as a way to bolster a part of Uber’s business that executives see as crucial to growth and eventually to turning a profit. The coronavirus pandemic is driving a surge in demand for food delivery as many restaurants keep dining rooms closed and people are spending more time at home. The virus is also decimating Uber’s main business of ride hailing, resulting in mass job cuts at the company.
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