Sources: Uber has been in off and on talks for a year to acquire Grubhub, but the parties remain at odds about price
- Uber has made an offer to buy food delivery company Grubhub, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC Tuesday. — Grubhub's stock spiked as much as 38% …
CNBC
Context & Ripple Effects
Uber's pursuit of Grubhub is now a year-long negotiation that keeps stalling on one issue: price. The offer Uber made this week sent Grubhub's stock up sharply, but the gap between what Uber will pay and what Grubhub thinks it is worth has not closed.
What makes the standoff consequential is that Grubhub is not short of alternatives — it has drawn merger interest from Europe-based Just Eat Takeaway and Delivery Hero, and Just Eat Takeaway is reportedly nearing an all-stock deal once Uber's talks stalled. The buyer set around Grubhub is exactly why Uber cannot lowball.
First-order effects
Grubhub gains negotiating leverage from competing suitors: with Just Eat Takeaway and Delivery Hero circling, its board can hold out for a higher price than Uber's offer rather than accept the first bid.
Uber faces antitrust scrutiny on a Grubhub combination, which caps how aggressively it can push the deal even if the price gap closes.
Second-order effects
Blocked on Grubhub, Uber pivots to the next-best consolidation target — it went on to buy Postmates for $2.65B in an all-stock deal ($2.65B Postmates acquisition) to add US delivery scale without triggering the same overlap concerns.
A European buyer taking Grubhub redraws ownership of US food delivery: the asset Uber spent a year chasing ends up strengthening a cross-border rival instead.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, US food delivery consolidates into fewer, larger platforms shaped by antitrust limits on domestic mergers — pushing acquirers toward second-tier targets and cross-border structures, a logic that resurfaces years later in Uber's reported advanced talks for Delivery Hero.
For restaurants and diners, consolidation means commission economics and fee structures are increasingly set by two or three national platforms rather than a fragmented field — the dynamic behind later fights like the New York City commission-cap lawsuit that DoorDash, Uber, and Grubhub ultimately settled.
The trend: Food delivery is consolidating through serial M&A, with antitrust pressure steering buyers away from obvious domestic targets toward alternates and cross-border deals.
Uber laid off 3,700 employees via Zoom last week. It looks like they're using the money saved to bargain hunt all the other startups hurt by #COVID19 instead of laying low. First they invested in Lime at a 79% discount and now moving to acquire Grubhub. https://www.bloomberg.com/…
Grubhub's profits have been falling since 2018, making it an acquisition target. But even *if* a deal comes together with Uber, antitrust scrutiny will follow: https://www.nytimes.com/...
We need a merger moratorium. Also, devastated restaurants lose even more power if this goes through. Uber sets terms, extracts. https://www.nytimes.com/...
“We cannot allow these corporations to monopolize food delivery, especially amid a crisis that is rendering American families and local restaurants more dependent than ever on these very services.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
BREAKING: Uber has rejected 2.15 share ratio in GrubHub deal talks & the companies remain at odds on price, sources tell CNBC. The companies have been talking on and off for a year, people familiar also said. https://www.cnbc.com/...
New Uber/Grubhub details from @davidfaber: Grubhub's proposal rejected by Uber. Both parties still at odds on price. The companies have been talking on and off for about a year. https://www.cnbc.com/...
GrubHub releases statement on the reports of a possible Uber merger: “As we have consistently said, consolidation could make sense in our industry, and, like any responsible company, we are always looking at value-enhancing opportunities” https://www.prnewswire.com/...
$GRUB just said “policy remains to not comment on specific market rumors” and company is “squarely focused on delivering shareholder value.” Adds that “consolidation could make sense” but “we remain confident in our current strategy.” No mention of $UBER. https://www.prnewswire.c…
the food delivery industry is a warzone, and everyone is bleeding money. heres why Uber wants to buy grubhub w/ @kateconger https://www.nytimes.com/...
@DelRey But GrubHub is only profitable based on a model that Uber doesn't follow, and which GrubHub is moving away from because it lost share to Uber/DD.
An Uber deal has been matter of “who” & “when” - not “if” *Buy Grubhub & you get a big, profitable player, but still have to deal w/ wild spender in DoorDash *Buy DoorDash & you take out an aggressive spender but burn more cash May just come down to DoorDash costing too much http…
Is the great consolidation in food delivery finally going to happen? Uber has made an offer to buy GrubHub, per Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/...