Uber to buy Germany’s Delivery Hero in $14.8bn global deal | Uber
Uber has agreed to take over German takeaway company Delivery Hero in a $14.8bn (£10.7bn/€12.6bn) deal that will create a global food delivery giant.
The US technology company said it offered to pay 41.50 euros per share to Delivery Hero’s shareholders and determined the company’s value at 14.8 billion dollars. Uber will pay $13.7 billion after accounting for its purchase of a quarter of Delivery Hero shares, most recently in May.
The deal will unite Uber Eats with Delivery Hero brands in 99 countries, including foodpanda in Asia, PedidosYa in Latin America and talabat in the Middle East. The combined company has orders worth $236 billion in 2025.
Under the agreement, San Francisco-based Uber will not acquire Delivery Hero’s operations in 14 countries where it already has a strong presence, including the Glovo app serving countries such as Portugal and Spain, foodora in countries such as Norway and Sweden, and Yemeksepeti in Türkiye. Instead, it will be acquired by SSW Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, for $1.6 billion.
Splitting the deal with SSW will help prevent Uber from dominating these markets, an important consideration for competition regulators.
Delivery Hero does not operate in the UK, where Uber Eats is among the biggest players in food delivery.
The takeaway industry has soared in popularity over the past two decades, with the launch of numerous apps around the world and a boom in deliveries during coronavirus pandemic lockdowns. But since the burst of the pandemic bubble, delivery companies have focused on becoming large enough to cover significant operating costs and put pressure on the pay and conditions of delivery workers.
This has led to a wave of acquisitions as businesses seek greater scale. US DoorDash bought Britain’s Deliveroo for £2.9bn last year, while South African-owned investment group Prosus bought JustEat Takeaway for €4bn (£3.4bn).
Delivery Hero’s board and executives said they unanimously support the acquisition and intend to recommend it to shareholders. Prosus said it has committed to selling its 17% stake in Delivery Hero to Uber.
Kristin Skogen Lund, chairman of the supervisory board at Delivery Hero, said: “The food delivery business is extremely competitive and dependent on scale. It is difficult to build from a European base, but we have still achieved tremendous success in 15 years.
“Joining forces with a strong partner is the right move to best secure Delivery Hero’s future competitiveness and ability to deliver value to all our stakeholders.”
Uber said it would maintain Delivery Hero’s headquarters in Berlin and not make any changes to its workforce until at least 2029, and pledged to invest €2 billion in Germany over the next five years. The deal is expected to be completed in the second half of 2027.
Uber said it will offer taxi service and food delivery to 58 markets, up from 34, once the deal closes. Uber benefits from the fact that taxi customers also use its food delivery services, and people who use both services tend to spend three times more on its app, Uber said.
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, said: “By bringing our platforms together, we will bring more affordable, reliable delivery to millions of people in many of the world’s most dynamic economies, while also creating more opportunities for merchants and couriers.
“Together, we will nearly double the number of markets in which we offer both mobility and delivery services and scale a proven platform that we believe will create significant long-term value for our customers and shareholders.”
Delivery Hero founder Niklas Östberg founded his first food delivery company in Sweden in 2008. Östberg founded Delivery Hero in Germany in 2011 and listed the company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2017.
Under pressure from activist investors, Östberg agreed to leave the company in May. He said: “I am grateful to our employees for building this company over 15 years and we look forward to this great chapter together.”
