Berlin, May 26, 2026, 15:02 CEST
Delivery Hero shares held above Uber Technologies’ €33-a-share bid on Tuesday. The stock was at €37.91 in Frankfurt, up 0.8% at 2:26 p.m., after reaching €38.13 earlier. Investors look for a higher offer if Uber wants to buy the Berlin-based food delivery company.
Gap points to expectations. Uber’s initial confirmed bid put Delivery Hero at over €10 billion, but the market is factoring in a possible higher offer from Uber, other suitors, or both. Delivery Hero shares surged up to 12.7% Monday, touching their highest since late 2024 after talk of Uber considering a sweetened bid.
The timing is notable for the sector. Uber owns 19.5% of Delivery Hero’s issued capital plus options on another 5.6%. DoorDash, after wrapping up its Deliveroo deal, is expanding further outside the U.S.
Uber approached Delivery Hero with an early €33 a share offer, the company said Saturday, confirming it had received an “indicative proposal” from Uber. Delivery Hero said it is still running its strategic review, which could mean selling assets, spinning off businesses or possibly selling the whole group. EQS News
Uber’s board talked about lifting its bid for Delivery Hero after a top Delivery Hero shareholder turned down an offer at €38 a share, Reuters said, citing the Financial Times. Some shareholders pushed for more than €40 a share, according to the FT.
Uber is now Delivery Hero’s top shareholder after raising its stake to more than double its earlier holding, moving up from about 7% earlier this month. JPMorgan analysts said the step is a “clear endorsement” of Delivery Hero’s assets. Uber said in a filing then it had no plans to take its stake to 30%, which would mean it must make a mandatory offer. Reuters
Fight isn’t limited to Germany. Delivery Hero’s brands operate in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, while Uber Eats and DoorDash push for bigger international delivery networks to lower costs through scale. DoorDash has approached Delivery Hero investors, Reuters said, citing FT, targeting the Middle East unit with Talabat and HungerStation.
Delivery Hero started unloading assets this year. In March, the company made a deal to sell its Taiwan delivery platform to Grab for $600 million in cash. CEO Niklas Östberg called the sale “a key first step” for its strategic review. Delivery Hero
Prosus agreed in April to sell a 4.5% stake in Delivery Hero to Uber for around €270 million. The Dutch tech investor said the transaction helped satisfy European Commission commitments linked to its Just Eat Takeaway.com deal. Prosus also said the move helped open the door for Uber.
A buyout would raise antitrust questions. Regulators could look at competition and might demand some asset sales or slow things down. Citi’s Monique Pollard said she sees hurdles, noting Uber and Delivery Hero share 17 markets. Jefferies flagged “a myriad of antitrust issues” and counted overlap in 22 markets, nine in Europe. Investing.com Reuters
For investors in Delivery Hero, the main thing now is if this pressure will actually lead to a formal auction, or just die down on price. As for Uber, the question is both clear and tough: how much does it want to pay to keep up with DoorDash, now that the days of easy growth in this business are over.
