Deliveroo: Food delivery giant agrees £2.9bn takeover by US rival DoorDash
Food delivery giant Deliveroo has agreed to a takeover by its US rival DoorDash in a deal worth around £2.9bn.
San Francisco-based DoorDash will pay 180p a share in cash for London-listed Deliveroo in a move set to create a combined firm with a presence across 40 countries and handling about $90bn (£67.7bn) of orders each year.
The firms said: “The combination with Deliveroo will strengthen DoorDash’s position as a leading global platform in local commerce, enabling the combined entity to better serve businesses, consumers and couriers.”
Deliveroo, which was co-founded by chief executive Will Shu in 2013, operates in nine countries and works with more than 130,000 riders across the world. It made sales of around £2bn in 2024.
Mr Shu said: “We are now at the beginning of a transformative new chapter.
“DoorDash and Deliveroo are like-minded organisations with a shared strategic vision and aligned values.
“Together, we will be even better positioned to serve consumers, merchants, riders and local communities.
“The enlarged group will have the scale to invest in product, technology and the overall consumer value proposition.”
DoorDash was also set up in 2013, co-founded by chief executive Tony Xu, who has led the company ever since.
It operates in more than 30 countries and delivers more than 2.5 billion orders a year, helping it notch up revenues of $10.7bn (£8bn) in 2024.
Mr Xu said: “I could not be more excited by the prospect of what DoorDash and Deliveroo will be able to accomplish together.
“We’ll cover more than 40 countries with a combined population of more than one billion people, enabling us to provide more local businesses with the tools and technology they need to thrive.”
The deal is expected to complete in the final three months of 2025 but will need to be approved by Deliveroo’s shareholders.
Last month, Deliveroo reported faster order growth, but also revealed it had struggled to pick up more monthly UK customers in the first part of this year.
The delivery app said order growth reached 7 per cent in the first three months of 2025, an acceleration from 6 per cent in the final segment of last year.
Meanwhile gross transaction value last year, meaning the total cost of people’s baskets plus delivery fees, was up 9 per cent compared with the same period in 2024.
Speaking last month, Mr Shu described it as a “strong start” to the year, adding: “We continue to have confidence in delivering our guidance for 2025 whilst, like many others, remaining mindful of the uncertain macroeconomic environment.”
Nonetheless, the figures came at a tricky time for delivery apps, with consumer confidence low across the UK, and growing competition in the market after Just Eat Takeaway was bought by the investment firm Prosus earlier in the year.
Deliveroo also recently sold its Hong Kong arm, while it is continuing to branch out into grocery shopping as well as takeaway food orders.