The deal that didn't happen
Emailed on June 12th 2020 in The Friday Forward
This week Just Eat Takeaway agreed to acquire Chicago-based restaurant meal delivery company Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) in an all-stock deal.
As Axios' Dan Primack reports, "this is just as much about the deal that didn’t happen, as Uber reportedly became “exasperated” with Grubhub and its CEO Matt Maloney."
It’s easy to read this as a win for politicians who had expressed concerns about the antitrust implications of a Grubhub-Uber tie-up. And Maloney himself acknowledges that the Just Eat deal presents less regulatory risk. But don’t discount the fact that spurning Uber lets Grubhub management retain more independence, and continue to focus on its historically profitable marketplace business rather than go all-in on meal delivery.