The American group Uber, which seeks to compensate for the collapse of its passenger transport activity since the start of the pandemic, announced Monday that it had bought the Postmates meal delivery application for $ 2.65 billion. An announcement confirming the information communicated earlier today by the Bloomberg agency.
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The activities of the two companies complement each other with different geographic zones and clienteles, says Uber, who also highlights the strong ties forged by Postmates with small and medium-sized restaurants, the latter having concluded agreements with 600,000 establishments in the United States. United. Uber plans to continue operating the Postmates app separately.
The transaction is yet to receive the green light from authorities, including competition, but companies hope to finalize it in the first quarter of 2021.
Compensate for the collapse of the VTC activity
The passenger car giant (VTC) - which suffered a loss of $ 2.9 billion in the first quarter, and laid off about a quarter of its employees in May - seeks to compensate for the collapse of its VTC activity in boosting its Uber Eats home meal delivery services. Uber Eats sales soared 53% in the first quarter - although it still accounts for a small proportion of its overall revenues.
Created nine years ago, Postmates struggles to resist its multiple rivals in a growing but highly contested niche. In order to strengthen itself in the niche, Uber had approached the American meal delivery platform Grubhub in May, but discussions had stalled over the price. It is the Anglo-Dutch meal delivery group Just Eat Takeaway which is now in advanced discussions to buy Grubhub. Just Eat Takeaway, the result of a recent merger between the British Just Eat and the Dutch Takeaway, intends to prevail against the British Deliveroo and Uber Eats in this landscape in full consolidation.