UK's competition watchdog provisionally approves Amazon's investment in Deliveroo, after concluding the startup risked collapse absent new funds
CMA says delivery group was at risk of failing without fresh funding — The UK's competition regulator has granted provisional approval …
Financial Times
Context & Ripple Effects
This clears the last procedural hurdle in a year-long fight: the CMA first ordered Amazon to pause integration work with Deliveroo pending investigation in mid-2019, then in December referred the deal to a full investigation after Amazon failed to address its concerns. What changed by April 2020 is the economics, not the deal terms — the CMA concluded Deliveroo risked outright failure without fresh funds.
That failing-firm finding flips the calculus: competition concerns about Amazon deepening its grip on UK delivery now weigh against the certain loss of a competitor entirely. The provisional clearance effectively hands Amazon the rescue role the market conditions created.
First-order effects
Deliveroo gets access to the Amazon capital the CMA judged existential, removing the collapse risk that justified clearing a deal the regulator had spent two phases trying to block.
Amazon gains a cleared path to influence over a UK last-mile delivery network without a full acquisition, after being ordered to stand down from integration efforts less than a year earlier.
Second-order effects
Rival UK delivery platforms now face a competitor whose survival no longer depends on raising capital on their timetable, shifting the contest toward pricing and rider capacity rather than balance-sheet endurance.
Third-order effects
If the failing-firm logic holds, downturns become the window in which big-tech minority stakes in cash-burning startups get waved through — consolidation accelerating exactly when competition concerns should be sharpest. The pattern did hold here: the CMA went on to give final approval for a 16% stake, ending the firms' long regulatory battle.
The trend: Competition authorities are increasingly trading concentration concerns for rescue economics when big-tech capital is the difference between a startup's collapse and its survival.
Amazon's investment in Deliveroo provisionally (but probably permanently) greenlit. Crazy quote: “Deliveroo [said] the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its business meant that it would fail financially.” https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
The UK's competition watchdog has provisionally cleared Amazon's investment in Deliveroo. Why the sudden U-turn? Because Deliveroo could go out of business otherwise. The company told the CMA it's being hit *hard* by the coronavirus pandemic. https://www.engadget.com/... https://…
Some deals may be collapsing because of the pandemic but in the new covid world regulators are shifting mindsets and waiving deals they wouldn't have weeks ago. CMA clears Deliveroo deal. FT story here. https://www.ft.com/...
UK competition watchdog approves Amazon's investment in @Deliveroo after the food delivery service warned “the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its business meant that it would fail financially and exit the market without the Amazon investment”. 😳 https://www.ft.com/...
The @CMAgovUK has accepted failing firm argument in Amazon/Deliveroo merger review - the first of many COVID-related merger decisions? https://www.gov.uk/...
Amazon's investment in Deliveroo has been cleared on the basis that Deliveroo could go bust without it. (You might think lockdown has been good for delivery businesses but all the big fast food chains are closed and no office lunch deliveries.) https://www.gov.uk/...
Wow. The CMA has provisionally cleared Amazon's investment in Deliveroo “in light of a deterioration in Deliveroo's financial position as a result of coronavirus” Just four months ago it suggested the deal could damage competition https://www.gov.uk/...
We've provisionally cleared Amazon's investment in Deliveroo as part of an in-depth investigation. Read more about why: https://www.gov.uk/... https://twitter.com/...
“In light of a deterioration in Deliveroo's financial position as a result of coronavirus"), the CMA has provisionally cleared Amazon's investment in Deliveroo. https://www.gov.uk/...
Deliveroo tells UK competition regulators it's been hit hard by lockdown (via restaurant closures) - and unless Amazon investment is waved through it will go bust 👇https://www.gov.uk/ ... https://twitter.com/...
There's a narrative that quarantine life would be a boon for food delivery companies. That hasn't been true, including in China where food delivery is widely used. https://twitter.com/...