Uber has launched a voluntary public takeover bid for Delivery Hero, valuing the Berlin-based food delivery group at €13 billion. The deal would hand one of Europe’s last big independent technology companies to a US buyer.
The American ride-hailing group announced the offer on July 16, saying it had signed a business combination agreement. Shareholders would receive €41.50 a share in cash.
The enlarged business would span 99 countries, with combined pro-forma gross merchandise value of $236 billion in 2025. Uber said that would make it the world’s largest mobility and delivery platform.
Delivery Hero’s management and supervisory boards have both backed the bid. They said they would recommend shareholders accept it once the formal offer document is published.
Prosus, the Dutch-listed investor, has irrevocably committed to tender its stake of just under 17 per cent. Uber already held 24.77 per cent of the voting share capital directly and a further 11.74 per cent through equity derivatives, lifting its total economic interest above 53 per cent.
That entry point was opened in Brussels. The European Commission required Prosus to cut its Delivery Hero holding as a condition of its takeover of Just Eat Takeaway.com, and Uber bought in.
The offer is conditional on acceptance of 50 per cent plus one share, and on merger control and regulatory clearances. Uber said it expected the transaction to close in the second half of 2027.
In a linked deal, Delivery Hero would sell its operations in 14 markets to New York investment firm SSW Partners for about €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion), where the two compete head-on.
Those businesses include Glovo in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Romania and Moldova, and foodora in Austria, the Czech Republic, Norway and Sweden. Also transferred would be efood in Greece, Foody in Cyprus, PedidosYa in Chile and Ecuador, and Yemeksepeti in Turkey.
Uber has pledged to keep Delivery Hero’s Berlin headquarters and workforce unchanged until at least 2029. It also committed to invest €2 billion in Germany over five years, including driverless vehicle projects with German carmakers.
Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said the combination would extend “affordable, reliable delivery to many millions more people”. Delivery Hero co-founder Niklas Östberg said the purchase showed “the attractiveness of the European tech ecosystem”.
Supervisory board chair Kristin Skogen Lund put the case more bluntly, saying it was “challenging to build from a European base”. Delivery Hero shares traded around €37.90 in Frankfurt after the announcement, well below the offer price.
It is the second time in little more than a year that a US platform has bought a European rival rather than compete with it, after DoorDash swallowed Britain’s Deliveroo. Lyft took Germany’s Freenow in 2025.
