Fear of the bubble: Jitse Groen.
Photo: Jeroen Bouman / Just Eat TakeawayJitse Groen (42), CEO of the Just Eat Takeaway delivery group, to which the German market leader Lieferando also belongs, warns of "a bubble" in the delivery service industry in manager magazin. The industry is heading for "a catastrophe," said Groen. The Dutchman warns that investors are putting too much money into unprofitable delivery business models. "Practically nobody invests in online travel anymore. Instead, the delivery area is flooded again." As a result, he sees "a bubble" forming in his industry. "If the bubble bursts, many will go bankrupt."
Groen's company Just Eat Takeaway is the only profitable delivery service group (2019 result: 234 million euros). All other delivery service groups are making high losses and are financed by investor money.
Main competitor Delivery Hero raised 1.5 billion euros in convertible bonds in July. The DAX climber lost almost 320 million euros in the first half of 2020 - almost twice as much as in the same period in 2019 (-171 million euros). Delivery Hero's market value more than doubled to over EUR 20 billion in the same period.
Read the full story about the ruinous business model of delivery services on manager magazin +.