Uber Technologies Inc. will expand its food-delivery service to Germany in the coming weeks, taking on Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, which dominates the market.
“We believe there is strong demand for more food delivery services and a more competitive market,” Uber said in a statement on Wednesday. The company will start its German expansion with Berlin.
The German food delivery market has been dominated by Just Eat Takeaway.com NV since it acquired Delivery Hero SE’s local business in 2018, ending an expensive rivalry.
The company will contract out its delivery riders to third party suppliers, similar to the way its ride-hailing drivers operate. Drivers who want to pick up Uber drivers must first find a private-hire fleet to join. Uber has been battling regulators in the country for years and Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi has called for changes in the laws regulating transportation.
Just Eat Takeaway shares fell as much as 5.4% in Amsterdam trading. The Dutch company’s Chief Executive Officer Jitse Groen said in a tweet to Uber’s Khosrowshahi, “Interesting way of trying to depress our share price.” Just Eat Takeaway is in the middle of acquiring GrubHub Inc. in an all-stock deal, marking a major expansion into the U.S. Uber’s own bid for GrubHub snagged on antitrust concerns and price.
Read More: Deal-Hungry Dutch Billionaire Defeats Uber to Enter U.S.
The news was first reported by the Financial Times. A representative for Uber declined to comment on the tweet.
Just Eat Takeaway’s approach to delivery may have left it “exposed” to competitors in Germany, with Uber and smaller delivery rival Wolt announcing plans to expand into the market in the last six months, Jefferies Financial Group analyst Giles Thorne said in a note on Wednesday. Rivals are “evidently reveling in how under-developed delivery is.”
Uber Eats is available in other European markets such as Spain, France, Poland and the U.K.
Uber Eats Will Expand to Germany, Takes on Just Eat Takeaway - Bloomberg
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment