Uber Has Made An Offer To Buy Postmates

Unsplash/Brett Jordan


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Uber just won’t quit trying to bolster its UberEats business, will it? Now, it’s set its sights on GrubHub competitor, Postmates. According to reports, Uber has made Postmates an offer valuing the delivery service at $2.6B.

There’s still time…

While anyone would be happy with a multibillion-dollar valuation, Postmates is still weighing its options and is expected to give its answer back to Uber as early as next week. Playing hard to get.

Postmates is the smallest of the big-four US food delivery services by market share, and has had a hard time playing with the big boys like GrubHub, DoorDash, and, of course, UberEats.

Swing and a miss

Uber tried its hand at growing its delivery service a few weeks ago, offering to buy GrubHub, but it was outbid by European firm Takeaway.com. Takeaway gave GrubHub $7.3B to join forces. Sure, but what was the delivery fee like? 

Postmates still hasn’t signed anything and it hasn’t said that it’s not going public, which it filed confidentially to do in 2019, or selling itself to a special acquisition company. I hear Bill Ackman is in the market for a mature unicorn…

The bottom line…

So, let’s recap Postmates’ options here. It can join Uber, which provides brand recognition and a nice payday, go public, which is risky given the current market situation, or sell to a special acquisition company. A special acquisition company is essentially an operation-less shell company that buys up private companies, with the goal of taking them public.

Should Postmates choose to sell its soul to the devil (read: team up with UberEat), it’ll be facing an uphill battle Considering Uber and Postmates are two of the four largest food delivery services in the US, the antitrust fun police are more than likely going to review the deal with a fine-toothed comb. In fact meddling antitrust regulators are cited as one of the reasons the Uber-GrubHub deal fell apart.

Water Cooler Talking Point(s)

💧 “Why doesn’t McDonalds just hire its own delivery drivers, and save us both from the delivery service surcharge of death? ” (AJ, The Water Coolest HQ)

 

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The Water Coolest is a daily business newsletter consisting of business news, financial advice, and unfiltered commentary. Delivered fresh in your inbox every morning so you're ready to snap necks and cash checks. Written by Tyler Morrin, AJ Glagolev, Nick Ellis, and Ian Barto.