SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Uber finally got its food delivery company, acquiring Postmates in a $2.65 billion all-stock deal, the ride-hailing giant has confirmed.
The deal helps Uber and its Ubereats food-delivery division pick up some ground against industry leader DoorDash, which controls about 37% of the U.S. food delivery market. That’s compared with Uber Eats’ 20% share before the Postmates deal. Grubhub holds around 30%.
Last month, Uber lost out in a bid for Grubhub, which would have made it the dominant U.S. food-delivery service. But Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com ended up nabbing Chicago-based Grubhub in a $7.3 billion deal.
Uber writes in a press release that Postmates is highly complementary to Uber Eats, with differentiated geographic focus areas and customer demographics.
Uber says consumers will benefit from expanded choice across a wider range of restaurants and other merchants, and delivery people will enjoy more opportunities to earn income, with increased batching of orders to make better use of their time.
“Uber and Postmates have long shared a belief that platforms like ours can power much more than just food delivery—they can be a hugely important part of local commerce and communities, all the more important during crises like COVID-19. As more people and more restaurants have come to use our services, Q2 bookings on Uber Eats are up more than 100 percent year on year. We’re thrilled to welcome Postmates to the Uber family as we innovate together to deliver better experiences for consumers, delivery people, and merchants across the country,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
“Over the past eight years we have been focused on a single mission: enable anyone to have anything delivered to them on-demand. Joining forces with Uber will continue that mission as we continue to build Postmates while creating an even stronger platform that brings this mission to life for our customers. Uber and Postmates have been strong allies working together to advocate and create the best practices across our industry, especially for our couriers. Together we can ensure that as our industry continues to grow, it will do so for the benefit of everyone in the communities we serve,” said Postmates Co-Founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann.