(Bloomberg) — Wonder Group Inc. is shopping for Grubhub from Just Eat Takeaway.com NV for about $650 million, buying the restaurant supply service at a steep low cost to the $7.3 billion price ticket it commanded in the course of the early days of the Covid pandemic.
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The transaction is anticipated to shut within the first quarter of 2025, Just Eat mentioned in a press release on its web site on Wednesday. It expects web proceeds of as a lot as $50 million from the deal.
“The sale of Grubhub to Wonder will increase the cash generation capabilities of Just Eat Takeaway.com,” Just Eat Chief Executive Officer Jitse Groen mentioned.
Just Eat shares jumped as a lot as 23% in Amsterdam on the deal, the largest soar since August 2022 when it offered its 33% stake in Latin American three way partnership iFood to Prosus NV.
Investors poured cash into supply startups in the course of the pandemic, when prospects had been caught at residence because of lockdown restrictions. As rates of interest rose and demand for his or her companies fell, the trade was hit with a wave of consolidations that noticed valuations drop sharply from Covid-era peaks.
Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway, which purchased Grubhub in 2021 in a bid to launch itself into the US meals supply market, has been on the lookout for a technique to offload Grubhub for years. It initially introduced plans to promote Grubhub in April 2022, caving to investor stress as the corporate struggled to fend off competitors from US rivals like Uber Eats and DoorDash. In 2023, Groen mentioned a mixture of excessive worth calls for from some buyers and a weak deal market meant the sale was proving “very difficult.”
Wonder pays $142 million in money and tackle $500 million in Grubhub debt, Wonder Chief Executive Officer Marc Lore advised Bloomberg News. The deal is a significant step in a change that has been underway on the former Walmart Inc. government’s startup since final yr, when it ditched an preliminary plan to construct a service based mostly on a fleet of meals vehicles that might put together and ship meals to prospects’ doorways. Wonder launched in 2018 and commenced a supply service in suburban New Jersey, earlier than abandoning the thought in early 2023 and slicing a piece of employees because it pivoted to storefront areas.
The firm now operates 30 storefronts, largely round New York and Philadelphia. There is a few seating for patrons, however the primary focus is on takeout and supply. Various Wonder-owned manufacturers co-exist at every location, a model of a mannequin generally known as a “ghost kitchen.” It plans to function 100 retailers by January 2026.
