MAY 6 – Deliveroo, the food delivery app, has agreed to be taken over by US giant DoorDash in a deal valuing the business at £2.9bn.
The combined company will have a presence in more than 40 countries serving about 50 million customers per month.
The tie-up is also expected to provide fierce competition to rivals Just Eat and Uber Eats in the UK.
However, the deal is the latest example of a UK-listed company being taken over by a US firm, fuelling further concerns over UK investment.
However, it is well below the 390p share price that Deliveroo first floated at when it launched on the London Stock Exchange in April 2021.
Will Shu, chief executive and co-founder of Deliveroo, said he was “very proud of everything we have achieved as a standalone business”.
However, he said the deal with DoorDash, which is based in San Francisco, was “transformative”.
“The enlarged group will have the scale to invest in product, technology and the overall consumer value proposition.”
The takeover is to be put forward to shareholders for final approval. Mr Shu, is set to receive about £172.4m for his 6.4% stake.
Deliveroo, which was co-founded by Mr Shu in 2013, operates in nine countries with more 130,000 delivery riders. It provides a food delivery service by linking restaurants with customers through an app. It also supplies groceries.
It made sales of about £2bn in 2024, while DoorDash, which was set up in the same year, made some £8bn last year through its operations in more than 30 countries.
The companies both started out as food delivery services, offering customers convenient and quick access to a range of restaurants and takeaways, but DoorDash has grown into a much bigger business.
DoorDash has seen its value soar after listing in the US, compared to Deliveroo, which has been listed in the UK.
Deal will ‘rattle Uber’
The takeover raises further questions for the London Stock Exchange, which has lost another big name to a US company.
As well as takeovers, UK-listed firms worth hundreds of billions of pounds have been quitting the London Stock Exchange for the US over the past few years, prompting concerns over how attractive the UK is for investment.
These include Cambridge-based microchip giant Arm Holdings, which now sells its shares in New York, Paddy Power’s owner Flutter and equipment hire giant Ashtead.
One of Deliveroo’s first backers, Danny Rimer of Index Ventures, previously told the BBC that if he had his time again he would have voted for a US listing.
News of a potential agreement between the firms emerged just over a week ago, and sent Deliveroo’s share price up sharply.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said DoorDash was aiming to “squeeze out” rivals such as Just Eat and “rattle Uber” in the UK.
“The deal, expected to close later this year, could turn the UK market into a fierce two-horse race with DoorDash and Uber at the top,” he added.
“With no competing bid in sight, this looks like a bold, calculated move to outpace global rivals and gain ground fast.”
By BBC
