Uber Freezes Entry into Greece to Acquire Delivery Hero, Parent Company of efood

American technology and transportation giant Uber has unexpectedly halted its planned large-scale expansion moves into the food delivery market in Europe. The company reassessed its growth strategies, abandoning its goal of operating in five of the seven initially targeted countries. In this context, Uber's plans to enter a series of new markets, including Greece, have been suspended for now. The main reason for this is the massive negotiation process the company is undertaking to acquire its Germany-based giant rival Delivery Hero, which is also the parent company of efood. Uber prefers to focus its existing resources and energy on realizing this large-scale acquisition.

According to industry sources and reports by the Financial Times newspaper, Uber sat down at the table with a bid of 10 milyar Euro to acquire its rival Delivery Hero. However, the Alman şirketi headquartered in Berlin evaluated the initial offer and made a decision to reject the acquisition. It is stated that behind this development lies the possibility of Prosus, a technology investor and the largest shareholder of Delivery Hero, increasing its stake in the company. On the other hand, because such a merger would directly affect market competition, Avrupa Birliği regulatory authorities will need to examine and approve the matter in detail. Therefore, the legal and financial dimensions of the process have become quite complex.

Platforms operating under the Delivery Hero umbrella offer a valuable opportunity for Uber in this market. The German giant has a strong delivery network with brands such as efood, which is very popular in Greece, Foodora in Austria, Norway, and the Czech Republic, and Glovo in Romania. If it acquires this giant company, Uber management will not have to build an infrastructure from scratch in its targeted European countries. Through this integration, the company aims to save significant amounts of time and resources, as well as instantly take over established partnerships with local restaurants. This strategy has the potential to significantly reduce Uber's operational costs in Europe, thereby increasing its profit margins.

Competition in the global food delivery market is proceeding at an extremely fierce level. DoorDash, Uber's main rival, has reached an effective position in critical markets such as Finland, Greece, and Germany through its acquired subsidiary, Wolt. Additionally, DoorDash achieved an impressive 64 percent share in the US local market, recording its highest level post-pandemic, and pushed Uber's American market share down to 31 percent. Although Uber Eats managed to increase its market share in European countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, it also had to deal with operational crises, such as technical issues in the system crashing its ordering systems. The company's goal is to consolidate its international presence and increase its resilience to stand against strong players like Wolt and Deliveroo.

All these global moves are causing deep repercussions, especially in Greece, where efood became an indispensable habit during the pandemic era. However, the high commission rates cut by efood from restaurants and businesses have incredibly increased the operational costs of the businesses. This situation led to an unprecedented increase in the product and service prices reflected to the end consumer, negatively affecting the local economy. To avoid these high commissions, many local businesses have started offering their customers options to pick up products directly from the restaurant or use the establishment's own couriers at more affordable prices. Uber's potential entry into this market through a possible acquisition has the potential to completely change both existing commission policies and the local competitive balance among actors such as efood, Wolt, and Skroutz.