Uber loses out as Grubhub to merge with Europe’s Just Eat Takeaway

This appeared in The Millennial Source

After nearly a month of negotiations, Uber was thought to be close to a deal to buy Grubhub in what would have combined two of the three largest meal delivery services in the United States.

But on June 10, Grubhub announced that it would instead be bought by Just Eat Takeaway, a European meal delivery competitor, for US$7.3 billion.

According to CNBC, talks between Uber and Grubhub stalled partly due to antitrust concerns raised over the potential acquisition, which would have seen Grubhub combine with Uber’s meal delivery service, Uber Eats, in what would have represented around 55% of the meal delivery market share in the US.

With people forced to stay home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, demand for delivery has soared to new heights over the past few months, making Uber Eats a bright spot for the company at a time when Uber’s ride hailing service has suffered.

People familiar with the matter told CNBC that Uber disagreed with Grubhub about “how to characterize regulatory risk.”

Washington lawmakers had already expressed concern that a merger between the two services would create something of a monopoly.