The acquisition of Postmates helps Uber expand its delivery efforts.
Angela Lang / CNET
Uber has agreed to purchase the Postmates delivery service, valued at $ 2.65 billion. The ride-hail company said on Monday that the acquisition previously announced by Bloomberg would step up its growing effort to deliver food, staple foods and other goods.
“Uber and Postmates have long believed that platforms like ours can do much more than just deliver food – they can be an extremely important part of local trade and communities, even more so in crises like COVID-19,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a press release that Uber Eats bookings increased more than 100% in the second quarter.
Since the dining rooms of many restaurants during the Coronavirus pandemicPeople have turned to delivery and pickup services like Postmates, Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub for their meals. A March DoorDash survey found that 56% of 1,000 customers said their take-away consumption has increased due to the pandemic.
Uber reportedly wanted to take over the competing food delivery service, GrubHub, but has reportedly ended the merger talks for antitrust reasons. Grubhub is now planning to merge with the Dutch food delivery service Just Eat Takeaway worth $ 7.3 billion.
Earlier this year, Uber has cut jobs and close side projects to focus on the ride and delivery business. It also made management changes and promoted Andrew Macdonald, head of global rides, as head of “Mobility” and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, head of Uber Eats, as head of “Delivery”. In April, the company also introduced two new delivery options: Uber Direct and Uber Connect.
Uber’s acquisition of Postmates is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.