The chase that’s been running all summer is nearly over. Uber is in advanced talks to acquire Delivery Hero outright and could reach an agreement as soon as this week, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. Delivery Hero shares jumped more than 5% to €38.93 on the report. Uber slipped nearly 3% — and that gap in reactions is its own story.
The endgame has been visible since May, when Delivery Hero disclosed a €33-a-share approach from Uber. Uber didn’t wait for an answer: it built its stake to nearly 37% from 25%, buying out Hong Kong fund Aspex Management to become the company’s largest shareholder. The entanglements came fast — Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi gave up his Grab board seat this month because Uber is moving to buy foodpanda’s parent while Grab buys foodpanda’s Taiwan arm from that same parent. Any formal offer now has to clear well above the roughly €36 the stock fetched before today’s pop.
What’s actually on the table: operations across roughly 70 countries, more than $55 billion in gross merchandise volume last year, and a portfolio of brands that dominate where Uber Eats doesn’t — Baemin in South Korea, foodpanda across Asia, Glovo in southern Europe and Africa, Talabat in the Middle East. Uber Eats is strong in the Americas, the UK, Japan and Australia. The maps barely overlap. That’s the industrial logic: one global delivery network, one advertising platform, one back end.
Why Uber fell anyway
Our take: Uber’s 3% dip is the market asking the only question that matters: is this scale, or is it scope creep? The strategic case is clean — complementary geography, instant #1-or-#2 position nearly everywhere. But Delivery Hero spent a decade proving that owning many markets is not the same as making money in them, and Uber would be buying every one of those problems at a premium. When you already own 37%, the deal feels inevitable — and “inevitable” is exactly the posture antitrust regulators most enjoy punishing.
The regulatory math is real. A combination bolting Glovo onto Uber Eats’ European business goes straight through Brussels, and merger reviews have teeth this cycle — ask Getty and Shutterstock, whose $3.7 billion merger died last week because a single regulator wanted a divestiture the board wouldn’t stomach. Deal talks are also just talks until money moves: MGM’s board took more than a month to even engage with a bid from its own largest shareholder.
What to watch
- The print. Where a formal offer lands against today’s €38.93 close. Remaining shareholders watched the stock get bid up all summer; they will anchor high.
- Brussels. An EU review is near-certain. The question is remedies — which markets, if any, Uber has to sell to get to yes.
- DoorDash. It has reportedly explored its own run at Delivery Hero and eyed Talabat specifically. A counterbid or an asset grab isn’t off the table until a deal is signed.
- The carve-outs. foodpanda Taiwan is already being sold to Grab. Expect more pruning — pre-emptive divestitures are how you shorten a merger review.
Food delivery’s decade of cash-burning fragmentation is ending the way these wars always end: a handful of global networks and some regional fortresses. If this deal signs, the map is basically drawn.