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German & Spanish Food Delivering Faces EU Antitrust Raids

By  |  July 10, 2022
EU Law

The European Union antitrust regulators raided the offices of German online food delivering company Delivery Hero SE and its Spanish subsidiary Glovo in Berlin and Barcelona on July 6 over their alleged involvement in a cartel to share national online food and grocery markets, Pymnts.com reported citing Reuters. If found guilty of violating the EU’s antitrust regulations, the companies could face fines of up to 10% of their turnover.

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    “The investigation concerns an alleged agreement or concerted practice to share national markets for the online ordering and delivery of food, groceries and other consumer goods in the European Union,” the commission said in a statement.

    According to Reuters, Delivery Hero said the visit from the regulators to its Berlin office does not mean they have concluded the company broke any laws. The company and its subsidiary Glovo — headquartered in Barcelona — said they were cooperating with the commission.

    Spokespeople for several high-profile delivery companies — including Just Eat Takeaway, Uber, Bolt, Gorillas, Flink and DoorDash’s Wolt — all told Reuters they were not involved in the raids.

    Businesses that are found guilty of violating the EU’s antitrust regulations could be punished by fines of up to 10% of their turnover.

    PYMNTS reported in May that Delivery Hero was struggling with a downturn that had seen the company lose about 75% of its value, with its share price dipping below its initial public offering (IPO) price at one point.

    It was part of a larger trend that has seen many food delivery services — including Just Eat and Deliveroo — experience steep declines this year.

    That downturn marked a drastic reversal from the food delivery sector’s position last year, thanks to a boom in demand from the pandemic. But as restrictions have lifted and inflation has risen, people have come to rely less and less on food delivery.

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