Uber Nears Takeover of Delivery Hero in a Deal That Could Close This Week
Advanced negotiations between the US ride-hailing giant and the German food-delivery group could produce one of the year's largest platform deals — at a price above Delivery Hero's current market value of roughly €11.2 billion, with direct implications for its Gulf assets.
The Deal at a Glance
Uber Technologies is in advanced talks to acquire German food-delivery company Delivery Hero, in a deal that could be reached as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg News — a report Delivery Hero subsequently confirmed in a statement. Available details suggest the transaction would value the company above its current market capitalization of roughly €11.2 billion ($12.8 billion), implying a premium to the stock's recent trading price of around €36 per share.
Uber currently holds voting rights equivalent to 24.99% of Delivery Hero, alongside derivative contracts that lift its total economic interest in the company to roughly 36.8%, after raising its stake last month by acquiring the position held by activist investor Aspex Management — one of the most vocal proponents of breaking up the company and selling its assets separately. Uber had previously made an indicative offer in May at €33 per share, valuing Delivery Hero at close to €10 billion, though several shareholders pushed for a higher price at the time.
Key Takeaways
- Uber is nearing a final agreement to acquire Delivery Hero, which Bloomberg sources say could be signed within days.
- The expected deal would value Delivery Hero above its current market cap of roughly €11.2 billion.
- Uber lifted its economic stake to about 36.8% by buying out an activist investor pushing for a company breakup.
- The deal is likely to face close regulatory review given overlapping operations in more than 60 markets, including Europe and the Middle East.
- Delivery Hero's Gulf assets — HungerStation in Saudi Arabia and talabat across the wider Gulf — are central to the deal's regional significance.
Why Uber Is Pursuing This Acquisition
The move fits within Uber's broader strategy to strengthen its position in the global food-delivery market outside the United States, where it faces intensifying competition from DoorDash. Owning Delivery Hero — which operates regional platforms spanning Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East — would give Uber immediate scale across dozens of markets where it currently has no food-delivery footprint, rather than building that presence organically.
In anticipation of European regulatory scrutiny, recent reporting indicates Uber has temporarily paused its planned food-delivery expansion into five European markets, a step widely read as an effort to ease the path toward European Commission antitrust approval for the prospective transaction.
-The deal effectively compresses years of organic market entry into a single transaction: rather than entering dozens of markets one at a time, Uber acquires established platforms with strong market positions across Europe, the Gulf, and Asia in one move — chief among them HungerStation and talabat in the Middle East.
A Negotiation That Has Spanned Months
This advanced round of talks is the latest stage in a negotiation that began in May, when Uber made its initial takeover approach amid competition from DoorDash, which had shown focused interest in Delivery Hero's Middle East and Turkish assets specifically. As Uber's stake in the company climbed toward 37%, DoorDash's practical odds of mounting a rival bid diminished, leaving it facing a near-controlling position it would be unlikely to work around without Uber's consent.
The same period saw mounting pressure from activist investors on Delivery Hero's management, prompting co-founder and chief executive Niklas Östberg to announce plans to step down by the end of March 2027, after fifteen years in the role. The company has also carried out a series of structural moves in recent months, including the sale of its foodpanda operations in Taiwan to rival Grab for $600 million, as part of a broader strategic review of its global asset portfolio.
The Gulf Stake: HungerStation and talabat at the Center
For the food-delivery market in Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf, the prospective deal carries direct implications. Delivery Hero holds full ownership of Saudi Arabia's HungerStation, alongside an 80% stake in talabat, listed on the Dubai Financial Market and active across several Gulf markets. Earlier reporting suggests these two platforms account for a substantial share of what makes Delivery Hero an attractive acquisition target — drawing separate interest earlier this year from regional players such as Saudi quick-commerce platform Ninja, which had explored a potential bid for the Middle East assets before Uber's advancing talks sidelined other suitors.
These developments come as competition in the Saudi food-delivery market intensifies, with Meituan's Keeta continuing to take market share and Jahez Group announcing a partnership with noon to offer food delivery through its expanded super-app. Recent sector estimates project Saudi Arabia's online food ordering and delivery market to reach roughly $8.22 billion by 2030, making ownership of established platforms like HungerStation a strategically significant asset for whoever ultimately controls Delivery Hero.
Whoever ends up owning Delivery Hero inherits an immediate competitive position in two of the region's fastest-growing food-delivery markets, at a time when competitive pressure from both local and Asian platforms is intensifying.
Saudi FoodTech Analysis — The Gulf context of the dealRegulatory Scrutiny and the Path Ahead
Any final agreement is expected to face close review from competition regulators, given the two companies' overlapping operations across a number of markets — particularly Europe, where Uber is active in ride-hailing and delivery, and the Middle East, where interests intersect with other regional platforms. Delivery Hero operates in more than 60 markets worldwide, making the scope of regulatory review broad and multi-jurisdictional, and explaining Uber's pre-emptive steps — such as pausing its European food-delivery expansion — to reduce friction with regulators.
Editorial View
If finalized, this prospective deal reflects a strategic logic that extends well beyond food delivery, reshaping the competitive map of mobility and delivery globally. Rather than competing market by market with DoorDash, Uber is opting for a sweeping acquisition that hands it immediate presence across both mature and high-growth markets — the Gulf chief among them. For operators and investors tracking the region's foodtech sector, the eventual outcome — whether Uber retains the HungerStation and talabat assets or resells them to regional players, as previously floated — will remain one of the most consequential threads shaping Saudi Arabia and the Gulf's food-delivery landscape in the period ahead.
