Grubhub Merges With Just Eat Takeaway in $7.3 Million Deal
On June 15, European food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway and U.S.-based Grubhub announced that they’ve completed a $7.3 million merger.
June 15 2021, Published 1:56 p.m. ET
The merger gives Just Eat Takeaway entry into the U.S. online food delivery business. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company currently operates across Europe, Canada, Australia, Columbia, and Brazil.
"I couldn't be more excited to enter this next chapter of Grubhub's story with the global leadership and experience of the Just Eat Takeaway team,” said Grubhub founder and CEO Matt Maloney. “Our companies share an unwavering focus on supporting restaurants and our communities around the world. Together we will continue to innovate and break new ground in our industry as we each have separately for the past 20 years."
Maloney will step down from his CEO role as part of the merger and will join Just Eat Takeaway’s management board.
Grubhub will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, where it trades under the ticker symbol “GRUB.” The newly merged Just Eat Takeaway company will be listed under “GRUB” on Nasdaq.
How will the merger impact Grubhub investors?
Under the terms of the transaction, Grubhub shareholders will receive ADRs (American depositary receipts) representing 0.671 Just Eat shares for each Grubhub share, which have a value of $75.15 per share.
Grubhub officials started talking about the merger with Just Eat Takeaway.com last year after talks with Uber fell through.
Grubhub is reportedly facing 14 lawsuits from shareholders upset about the merger. The lawsuits claim that Grubhub officials didn't disclose financial details and payouts they would receive from the merger. Also, they didn't secure the highest possible price for shareholders, Insider reports.
"Grubhub insiders are the primary beneficiaries of the Proposed Transaction, not the Company's public stockholders," states a lawsuit filed in New York by shareholder Frank Ferreiro. The lawsuit asked the court to invalidate the proposed merger.
However, Grubhub announced on June 10 that stockholders “overwhelmingly approved” the necessary proposals for the acquisition to move forward.
"We are pleased that Grubhub stockholders overwhelmingly supported the recommendation of Grubhub's board of directors on the pending combination with Just Eat Takeaway.com and voted in favor of the transaction," Maloney said in a company press release.
What is Grubhub?
Founded by Maloney in 2004, Grubhub has grown to be the biggest food delivery service in the U.S. The company partners with more than 280,000 restaurants in over 4,000 cities across the country.
Grubhub’s portfolio of brands includes AllMenus, Seamless, LevelUp, and MenuPages. The company went public in 2014.
What is Just Eat Takeaway.com?
Online food delivery marketplace Just Eat Takeaway was created through an $11.1 billion merger of Just Eat in the United Kingdom and Takeaway.com in the Netherlands. Currently, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Switzerland. The company also has partnerships in Colombia and Brazil.
“It is humbling to run such a company after our start in Holland more than 20 years ago. We welcome Matt and his team to this great company," said Jitse Groen, the CEO and founder of Just Eat Takeaway.com.