Uber’s reported interest in buying Delivery Hero turns a minority stake into something much more serious. The question now is whether global food delivery is entering its next consolidation round.
Uber has moved from watching Delivery Hero to sitting inside the room. After lifting its holding in the Berlin-listed food delivery group to 19.5% of issued capital this week, the company is now exploring options for a full takeover, Bloomberg News reported on May 22, according to Reuters.
That does not mean a deal is certain. It does mean the market has a clearer signal than it had a month ago. Uber has already bought enough of Delivery Hero to become its largest shareholder, and it also holds options over another 5.6% of the shares. For a company that has spent years building Uber Eats market by market, that is not a passive-looking position.
The timing matters. Delivery Hero is not a small regional player waiting to be tidied up. It operates across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas, with brands including Glovo, talabat, HungerStation and foodpanda. In its first-quarter 2026 update, the company reported group GMV of about €12.47 billion and total segment revenue of €3.73 billion. It also confirmed full-year guidance for adjusted EBITDA of €910 million to €960 million and free cash flow above €200 million.
Uber’s latest move follows its April purchase of a 4.5% Delivery Hero stake from Prosus for about €270 million, or €20 a share. Prosus had to reduce its Delivery Hero holding after European Commission conditions tied to its Just Eat Takeaway acquisition, creating a rare opening for Uber to buy into a direct rival without launching a full bid immediately.
By May 18, Uber’s position had jumped to about 19.5%, worth roughly €1.7 billion based on Reuters calculations at the time. MarketScreener showed Delivery Hero with a market capitalization of about €11.39 billion on May 22, after the shares gained almost 19% over five trading days. That gives investors a basic framework for the next question: if Uber wants the rest, how much of a premium would it need to pay?
This is where things become more complicated than a clean spreadsheet exercise. Uber said in a regulatory filing this week that it did not currently intend to cross 30% of Delivery Hero’s voting rights, the level that would trigger a mandatory offer for remaining shareholders. It also left itself room, saying it may acquire more shares or securities if further investment looks attractive.
That wording gives Uber flexibility without forcing a public commitment. It also keeps pressure on Delivery Hero’s board, which is already dealing with activist investor Aspex Management, a roughly 15% shareholder that has pushed for a strategic overhaul and previously called for CEO Niklas Östberg to step down.
Östberg, Delivery Hero’s co-founder and longtime chief executive, announced on May 12 that he will hand over the CEO role by March 31, 2027 at the latest. The company described it as a planned transition, but the wider context is difficult to ignore. A large new shareholder has arrived, activists are circling, and the annual general meeting is scheduled for June 23.
The sector is running out of patience
Food delivery was once valued on expansion. Now it is being judged on cash generation, route density and whether companies can defend their strongest markets without subsidizing every order. That shift explains why assets that once looked untouchable are suddenly part of a larger chessboard.
Uber knows this pattern well. In the United States, its 2020 Postmates acquisition helped it add scale in key cities and narrow the gap with DoorDash. Internationally, the same playbook is harder. Delivery Hero is spread across dozens of markets, many with their own labor rules, political sensitivities and local competitors. Taiwan already showed the limits of consolidation when regulators blocked Uber’s planned purchase of Delivery Hero’s foodpanda Taiwan business in late 2024 over competition concerns.
Still, the strategic logic is obvious. DoorDash has been expanding beyond the United States, including through its move for Deliveroo, while Prosus has been reshaping its delivery exposure through Just Eat Takeaway. Grab, Delivery Hero, Uber, DoorDash and regional operators are all trying to prove that the delivery model can work at scale without endless external funding.
The real test is discipline. Uber has the balance sheet and stock market standing to study a deal, but shareholders will want proof that buying Delivery Hero would improve margins rather than simply add complexity. A full takeover would also invite close antitrust review in markets where both companies already compete.
That is why the next few weeks matter. Watch whether Uber keeps its position below the mandatory-offer line, whether Delivery Hero’s board signals openness to broader strategic options, and how activists use the June meeting. If this turns into a formal bid, it will say something bigger than one company buying another. It will show that the delivery sector has entered a phase where scale is no longer a growth story by itself. It has to become a profit story too.
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