European food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com is selling Grubhub for $650 million, a fraction of the billions it spent to buy the U.S. platform. Just three years ago.
Wonder Group, a New York-based food ordering company that promotes “fast fine” dining, is set to become the new owner of Grubhub.
Under the terms of the deal announced Wednesday, Wonder will acquire Grubhub from Just Eat Takeaway.com for $150 million in cash and $500 million in senior notes.
That’s a lot less than the price tag of Grubhub’s previous sale.
In 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased demand for takeout food, Just Eat agreed to buy Grubhub for $7.3 billion – reportedly outbidding Uber for the merger – in a transaction known as Finalized later in 2021.
Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com acknowledged Wednesday that it had been “actively exploring” a partial or full sale of Grubhub for some time, citing prior company announcements.
Just Eat Takeaway.com said the sale of Grubhub to Wonder would drive growth, cash generation and support investment in countries where it has “the greatest competitive advantage.”
Apart from the US, the company currently operates in 18 other countries.
Subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, the transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2025.
Upon completion, Just Eat Takeaway.com says it will not have any material liabilities related to Grubhub.
“This deal provides the right home for Grubhub and its employees,” Just Eat Takeaway.com CEO Jitse Groen said in a statement. The company’s shares were up more than 15% as of Wednesday afternoon.
Marc Lore and Howard Migdal, CEOs of Wonder and Grubhub, There were also positive signs Wednesday – both said the deal will help Wunder’s mission of “making great food more accessible” and enhancing customer experiences.
Wonder, founded by Lor, bills itself as a “new kind of food hall” and delivers food to order from renowned chefs and restaurants.
Helen Seidman
The New York startup was once known for its fleet of delivery trucks, but has since adopted a brick-and-mortar approach. Its online offerings have also increased.
Last year, Wonder bought meal kit company Blue Apron for $103 million.
Grubhub, headquartered in Chicago, operates in more than 4,000 U.S. cities – with more than 375,000 merchants and 200,000 delivery partners nationwide to date.
According to Just Eat Takeaway.com, the platform generated 237 million orders with a gross transaction value of approximately $8.53 billion last year.
Takeaway.com, which Merged with Just Eat in 2020, and GrubHub were both founded in the early 2000s – making them some of the earliest entries in this field.
But competition quickly grew as popular platforms like Uber Eats and DoorDash also got into the game. And having customers jump between apps can make it difficult to keep sales steady.
By March 2024, data from data analytics firm Bloomberg Second Measure showed that Grubhub made up only 8% of food delivery consumer spending in the US – much less than DoorDash or Uber Eats.
DoorDash is currently winning the “food delivery war”, measured per second, making 67% of these sales, followed by Uber Eats at 23%.
This story has been updated to correct that GrubHub generated gross transaction value of 8.06 billion euros, not million.
