- General
- June 10, 2020
- 4 minutes read
Just Eat Confirms Merger Talks With Grubhub
Just Eat Takeaway.com CEO Jitse Groen. Photo credit: Web Summit | Flickr, under Creative Commons license British food delivery service…
Just Eat Takeaway.com CEO Jitse Groen. Photo credit: Web Summit | Flickr, under Creative Commons license |
British food delivery service Just Eat has confirmed it’s in talks to purchase U.S. food delivery counterpart Grubhub, amid recent reports of the company looking to do so. U.S. ride-hailing giant Uber is also trying to acquire Grubhub. In an official statement, Just Eat Takeaway.com, as its full name goes, said it’s in “advanced discussions” for an all-stock acquisition of Grubhub. Currently, Grubhub has a market value hovering around $5 billion while Just Eat’s hovers around $14 billion (using current currency exchange rates).
Just Eat’s confirmation comes on the heels of a CNBC report that said Uber is close to ending its acquisition talks with Grubhub due to antitrust concerns. Uber was the first company to express takeover interest in Grubhub.
The coronavirus pandemic has driven up demand for food delivery services as many restaurants remain closed and people spend more time at home. Uber looking to acquire Grubhub seems like the company looking to capitalize on this growth to boost its business. The company’s acquisition interest, however, happens to have drawn scrutiny from U.S. antitrust officials, most notably from U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Update: Just Eat Takeaway.com and Grubhub have reached an official deal to merge. The deal values Grubhub at $7.3 billion.