Uber has agreed to acquire German food-delivery giant Delivery Hero in a deal valued at $14.8 billion, marking one of the biggest consolidation moves in the global online food-delivery industry and creating the world’s largest delivery platform outside China.
The acquisition significantly expands Uber’s international footprint, strengthens its competitive position against DoorDash and Prosus-backed Just Eat, and underscores how scale has become the defining advantage in an industry facing slower growth, rising regulatory costs and mounting competition.
The transaction is a major milestone in Uber’s transformation from a ride-hailing company into a diversified mobility and logistics platform. By combining Delivery Hero’s extensive international operations with Uber Eats, the company will nearly double the number of markets where it offers both transportation and food delivery, enabling it to deepen customer engagement through bundled services and its Uber One subscription program.
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“We’ll nearly double the number of markets where we offer both mobility and delivery services,” Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in a joint statement announcing the transaction.
The acquisition values Delivery Hero at €41.50 per share, representing about a 34% premium to its three-month volume-weighted average share price and roughly 40% above the company’s undisturbed share price before takeover speculation emerged. Uber’s offer is also significantly higher than its earlier proposal in May, which valued Delivery Hero at around €10 billion, or €33 per share, and was rejected by the German company.
The deal has the backing of Delivery Hero’s management and supervisory board, although Uber has made the transaction conditional on securing acceptance from shareholders representing at least 50% plus one share.
If completed, the combined company will operate across 99 countries, up from roughly 50 markets for Uber today, with a projected gross merchandise value (GMV) of $236 billion in 2025. Delivery Hero contributed approximately $42 billion in gross bookings last year and serves around 60 million monthly active users, providing Uber with immediate scale in regions where its presence has historically been limited.
The acquisition substantially expands Uber’s reach across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America through Delivery Hero’s portfolio of brands, which includes Talabat, PedidosYa, Glovo, and several regional delivery platforms.
The rationale extends beyond food delivery.
Uber has been pursuing a “super app” strategy that combines ride-hailing, restaurant delivery, grocery delivery, retail logistics, and subscription services within a single ecosystem. Adding Delivery Hero’s customer base gives Uber new opportunities to cross-sell mobility services, expand Uber One memberships, and improve customer retention while spreading technology and marketing costs across a much larger platform.
Analysts say those network effects have become increasingly important as industry growth normalizes following the pandemic-era surge in online food ordering.
The acquisition also points to the rapid consolidation of the global food-delivery industry. What was once a fragmented market populated by dozens of regional competitors has increasingly become dominated by a handful of global companies. Slowing order growth, higher interest rates, increasing labor costs, and tighter regulation surrounding gig-economy workers have made scale essential for maintaining profitability.
The industry has witnessed a succession of large transactions over the past several years. Uber acquired Postmates to strengthen its U.S. business. DoorDash expanded internationally through its purchases of Wolt and Deliveroo. Just Eat merged with Takeaway.com before acquiring Grubhub, while Delivery Hero itself grew aggressively through acquisitions, including Glovo and foodpanda, before later exiting selected markets to improve profitability.
The latest transaction further concentrates the industry, effectively leaving Uber and DoorDash as the dominant global competitors outside China, where Meituan continues to lead.
Despite the strategic logic, the deal is expected to face an extensive regulatory review. Because Uber and Delivery Hero operate in numerous overlapping markets, competition authorities are likely to closely examine whether the combination could reduce consumer choice, weaken competition, or increase commissions charged to restaurants.
To help address those concerns before formal reviews begin, Delivery Hero has agreed to divest operations in 14 markets to U.S. investment firm SSW Partners for approximately €1.4 billion. The divestitures are intended to reduce competitive overlaps and improve the transaction’s chances of securing regulatory approval.
Another important element involves Prosus, one of Delivery Hero’s largest shareholders. Prosus has agreed to sell its nearly 17% stake in Delivery Hero as part of commitments it previously made to the European Commission to secure approval for its acquisition of Just Eat Takeaway. Those commitments required the Dutch technology investor to reduce its ownership in Delivery Hero, effectively removing a potential obstacle to Uber’s acquisition.
People familiar with the matter said the divestment was driven by regulatory obligations rather than a strategic desire to exit, describing Prosus as a “false seller.”
The transaction nevertheless highlights an irony within Europe’s technology space. While European policymakers have repeatedly emphasized the importance of nurturing homegrown technology champions capable of competing globally, regulatory remedies attached to another merger have helped pave the way for one of Europe’s largest digital platforms to be acquired by a U.S. company.
Analysts expect the regulatory process to be lengthy.
Jefferies described the proposed completion timetable, which extends into the second half of 2027, as evidence that regulators are likely to conduct an extensive antitrust review.
“The use of a financial investor to get ahead of the antitrust questions could prove successful, though the long timeline to completion suggests it won’t be a straightforward review,” Jefferies analysts wrote.
Investor reaction was relatively muted following the announcement. Delivery Hero shares edged modestly higher, while Uber shares gained around 2%, suggesting markets largely anticipated an improved offer after takeover discussions became public earlier this year.
As part of the agreement, Uber committed to invest €2 billion in Germany through 2031 and pledged to maintain Delivery Hero’s Berlin headquarters and workforce until at least 2029. Those commitments may help ease political concerns over foreign ownership while preserving Germany’s role as a major European technology hub.
The acquisition also strengthens Uber’s long-term competitive positioning beyond traditional food delivery.
According to Adam Ballantyne, an analyst at Cambiar Investors, the newly acquired markets provide Uber with years of additional organic growth opportunities as it introduces bundled ride-hailing and delivery services while expanding Uber One subscriptions into regions where customers currently use Delivery Hero’s platforms but have limited access to Uber’s broader ecosystem.
If regulators ultimately approve the acquisition, Uber will emerge as the most geographically diversified food-delivery company outside China, with an unmatched global network spanning nearly 100 countries.