Just Eat Takeaway Sold to Prosus for $4.3 Billion

Food delivery platform Just Eat Takeaway was sold to tech investor Prosus.

The deal, worth 4.1 billion euros (about $4.3 billion), will make Netherlands-based Just Eat Takeaway a private company, according to a Monday (Feb. 24) press release. It comes as the firm focuses on the European market following the sale of Grubhub.

“Just Eat Takeaway.com is now a faster growing, more profitable and predominantly European-based business,” founder and CEO Jitse Groen said in the release. “Prosus fully supports our strategic plans, and its extensive resources will help to further accelerate our investments and growth across food, groceries, FinTech and other adjacencies. We are looking forward to an exciting future together.”

Prosus has a background in the food sector, including its investment in Brazil’s iFood, the release said. Its experience offers a roadmap to bolster Just Eat Takeaway’s growth via a renewed focus on tech and artificial intelligence, in particular.

“The implementation of AI has revolutionized operations at iFood and enhanced the customer experience and support for drivers, making it the most loved food delivery brand in Brazil,” the release said. “Similar opportunities exist at Just Eat Takeaway.com to improve the customer and driver experience, boost service reliability and optimize logistics.”

Just Eat Takeaway announced in November that it sold Grubhub to food delivery startup Wonder. The deal saw Wonder pay $650 million for the platform, less than the $7.3 billion Just Eat Takeaway paid to acquire Grubhub in 2021.

Ten months after that deal closed — and after earlier denying rumors of a pending sale — Just Eat Takeaway announced that it was “actively exploring” the possibility of a partial or full sale of Grubhub, or taking on a strategic partner.

Grubhub and other food aggregators saw their businesses flourish during the pandemic when people splurged on meal deliveries. But Grubhub began to struggle as the pandemic wound down and consumers — uneasy about rising prices at restaurants — began to seek out cheaper food options.

For example, French food delivery startup Epicery announced at the end of last year it ceased operations.

“The food delivery platform sector has gone through particularly difficult times in recent years, and we have not been spared,” the company said.