Just Eat Takeaway to buy Grubhub for $7.3B in online food delivery push
Dutch-based food delivery service Just Eat Takeaway plans to partner with Grubhub on a deal worth $ 7.3 billion, Wednesday, a press release said. The deal marks Just Eat Takeaway’s entry into the United States.
The merger will create the largest online grocery company outside of China, Just Eat Takeaway said in the press release.
The deal between Grubhub and Just Eat Takeaway follows reports that Uber and Grubhub ended the merger talks for antitrust reasons. US lawmakers expressed concern about an alleged deal between Uber and Grubhub last month in a letter signed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Patrick Leahy, Richard Blumenthal, and Cory Booker.
“A merger of Uber Eats and Grubhub would bring together two of the three largest providers of food delivery applications and pose serious competition problems in many of the country’s markets,” the letter said.
Since the dining rooms of many restaurants were closed during the coronavirus pandemic, many people turned to delivery and collection services such as Postmates, Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub for their meals. A DoorDash survey in March found that 56% of 1,000 customers said their take-away consumption has increased due to the pandemic.
“With the support of Just Eat Takeaway.com, we want to accelerate our mission to be the fastest, best, and most rewarding way to order groceries from your favorite restaurants in North America and around the world,” said Matt Maloney, CEO and founder of Grubhub.
Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.