The online takeaway food service Just Eat is to spend up to £300m on a buying spree, swallowing up its smaller rivals Hungry House and SkipTheDishes.
Just Eat is paying £200m upfront to buy Hungry House, its biggest UK competitor, from the German group Delivery Hero. It has promised to hand over another £40m if the company hits performance targets.
It’s incredible to see these two arch rivals finally become one and the giant of online orders of fast food. The incredible thing is that these two companies have never cooked one of the dishes they sell (a bit like Uber not owning one taxi). Technology is indeed the driving force. One of the key rationales to this deal was to stop Deliveroo from partnering up with Hungry House. Often acquisitions are about growth and market dominance, but in this instance keeping out an alliance was of importance too. There is truth then in the phrase “keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer”! This deal is so extensive that the Competition Markets Authority needs to bless this potential monopoly. Watch this space. Or should we say cyber space!
