Deliveroo ROO has agreed to a £2.9 billion takeover from US peer DoorDash DASH just four years after the UK-based food delivery platform’s lackluster public listing.
The deal marks an end to the company’s tumultuous time in the UK’s public market.
Deliveroo listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 amid a boom in food and grocery delivery services in the wake of the pandemic. At the time, it was the UK’s biggest in a decade in terms of market cap, reaching around £7.59 billion. However, trading quickly turned sour as controversies over worker pay and its dual-class share structure caused its shares to plummet by as much as 30% in its public debut.
As the demand for delivery services tapered off after the pandemic, Deliveroo’s share price failed to recover and has more than halved since its IPO. DoorDash, meanwhile, has seen its share price climb by over 12% since its USD 3.4 billion listing in 2020.
Deliveroo has been on a mission to cut costs in recent years, announcing layoffs in 2023 and shutting down its Hong Kong operations earlier this year. In March, the company announced its first full-year profit of £3 million for 2024, compared to a £32 million loss in 2023.
Just Eat Takeaway Taken Over Too
DoorDash will pay 180 pence per share in cash for the London-based company, representing a 44% premium to the value of its shares on April 4, the day before the US group made its offer.
The acquisition will give DoorDash access to nine new markets across Europe, Asia and the Middle East and around 7 million monthly active users. Together, the combined group will be present in over 40 countries, serving approximately 50 million monthly active users.
The deal comes just months after investment group Prosus agreed a EUR 4.1 billion takeover of Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.
In addition to the Deliveroo takeover, DoorDash on April 6 agreed to a $1.2 billion deal for New York-based hospitality technology provider SevenRooms.
DoorDash also released its Q1 2025 results with revenue for the quarter reaching USD 3 billion, up from USD 2.5 billion for the same period in 2024. Net income stands at USD 193 million compared to a loss of USD 23 million in Q1 2024.
Leah Hodgson is a senior reporter for Pitchbook in London.
Update: This article has been updated to reflect the SevenRooms acquisition and DoorDash’s Q1 2025 results (April 6, 2025).
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