Uber Agrees to Buy Delivery Hero in $14.8 Billion Deal — Update

By Najat Kantouar and Adria Calatayud

Uber Technologies said it agreed to acquire Delivery Hero in a deal that values the German company at $14.8 billion and brings together two of the world's biggest food-delivery platforms.

The agreement comes after the San Francisco-based company moved to buy into Delivery Hero in recent months, steadily increasing its stake until it became the largest shareholder and entered into takeover talks.

Delivery Hero said Thursday that its management and supervisory boards plan to support the offer, and that joining forces with Uber now is the right move for the company to secure its future competitiveness. In May, the company had rejected a previous takeover approach from Uber.

The proposed tie-up marks the latest step toward consolidation of the food-delivery industry, following in the footsteps of acquisitions by some of Uber's competitors last year. U.S. rival DoorDash agreed to acquire British food-delivery company Deliveroo, while tech investor Prosus--which owns food-delivery platform iFood--bought Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com.

Prosus, Delivery Hero's second-biggest shareholder after Uber, said it would sell its remaining 16.8% stake in the company as part of the takeover.

The deal allows Uber to bolster its international presence by adding most of Delivery Hero's operations--including food-delivery brands in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America, as well as in some European countries.

Delivery Hero struck a separate 1.4 billion-euro ($1.60 billion) agreement to sell its businesses in 14 countries--including a big chunk of its European operations--to SSW Partners, subject to completion of the takeover by Uber.

Uber said the acquisition would extend its mobility and delivery platform to 99 markets, creating a group with combined gross bookings of $236 billion.

Under the deal, Uber is offering 41.50 euros a Delivery Hero share in cash, the companies said. The price compares with Delivery Hero's closing share price of 38.18 euros on Wednesday, and with Uber's prior takeover proposal of 33 euros a share disclosed by Delivery Hero in May.

Shares in Delivery Hero rose at the opening bell, but later moved down 1% to 37.79 euros, below the offer price. The stock has nearly doubled in value over the past three months, driven by Uber's stake-building and expectations of a possible takeover.

Delivery Hero had said earlier this week that the companies were in advanced talks. The company had been looking to reshuffle its portfolio in recent months and said earlier this year that its co-founder and longtime chief executive, Niklas Ostberg, would step down.

Uber, which already holds a direct stake of 24.99% in Delivery Hero and has exposure to an additional 11.84% through financial contracts, said it pledged to retain Delivery Hero's headquarters and keep its workforce in Berlin until at least 2029. The U.S. company also earmarked 2 billion euros for investments in Germany over the next five years.

Write to Najat Kantouar at najat.kantouar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 16, 2026 04:27 ET (08:27 GMT)