Uber terminates Foodpanda Taiwan acquisition, citing regulatory hurdles | TechCrunch

Uber Technologies has ended its acquisition of Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda in Taiwan, the Germany-based tech firm said on Tuesday.

The announcement comes roughly three months after Taiwan’s antitrust regulator blocked the deal, citing competitive issues. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said that if Uber acquired Foodpanda, its market share in Taiwan would increase to 90%, potentially leading to price increases by Uber.

Uber Eats and Foodpanda are the top players in Taiwan’s food delivery market. In a recent report, it was found that Foodpanda enjoyed 52% market share from January 2022 to August 2023, while Uber Eats had 48%. Food delivery companies like Foodomo and many other fast-food delivery apps make up a tiny percentage of Taiwan’s market share, comparatively.

Under the agreement signed on May 14, 2024, Uber is required to pay a termination fee that is estimated to be about USD $250 million.

Uber and Delivery Hero did not immediately respond to a TechCrunch request for comment.

When Uber announced it would buy Foodpanda’s Taiwan division from Delivery Hero, it expected to complete the deal in the first half of 2025. The move aligned with Uber Eats’ plan to grow in Asia, particularly by strengthening its presence in Taiwan. The two companies also engaged in a separate deal in which Uber agreed to buy $300 million of newly issued ordinary shares from Delivery Hero.

The deal also highlighted Delivery Hero’s continued withdrawal from that same market. At the time, Delivery Hero was trying to sell off a package of its other Southeast Asian operations — including in Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand — to an undisclosed third party. In September 2023, it ended those discussions, saying in a statement that the “decision to terminate negotiations after months of discussions was taken after careful consideration.”

Delivery Hero’s food delivery division competes with Grab in Southeast Asia.

In September, its Foodpanda unit staged a layoff aimed at streamlining operations ahead of a potential sale. The cuts followed earlier staffing layoffs in 2022 and 2023.