Uber Technologies Inc. has officially announced a blockbuster $14.8 billion (€13.0 billion) business combination agreement to acquire the German food-delivery giant Delivery Hero SE. The cash tender offer of €41.50 per share represents a strategic escalation in global quick-commerce consolidation, expanding Uber’s footprint to 99 countries and bringing combined pro forma gross bookings to $236 billion. To mitigate antitrust scrutiny, Delivery Hero will simultaneously divest 14 overlapping markets to New York-based SSW Partners for $1.6 billion, allowing Uber to safely absorb 50 high-growth international regions, including major strongholds in South Korea and the Middle East. The mega-merger, backed by a €14.2 billion bridge loan, is targeted to close in the second half of 2027 and is projected to deliver over $1.2 billion in annualized synergies within 18 months.
SAN FRANCISCO & BERLIN – July 16, 2026 (STL.News) — In a definitive move that reshapes the international quick-commerce landscape, Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) has entered into a comprehensive business combination agreement to launch a voluntary public takeover bid for Delivery Hero SE (ETR: DHER). The transaction values the Berlin-based food delivery giant at an equity value of $14.8 billion (€13.0 billion), marking one of the largest tech acquisitions in the logistics and delivery sectors.
The blockbuster deal dramatically accelerates Uber’s international expansion, giving it immediate market-leader status across critical regions in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Once finalized, the combined entities will operate across 99 countries, scaling a massive global infrastructure that captured an estimated $236 billion in pro forma gross bookings in 2025.
The Deal Mechanics: Premium Valuation and Financing
Under the terms of the agreement, Uber is offering Delivery Hero shareholders €41.50 per share in cash. This represents a 26% premium over Uber’s initial, unpublicized €33-per-share offer in May—which the Delivery Hero board rejected as too low—and a massive 127% premium over the unaffected three-month volume-weighted average share price prior to early May.
While the total implied equity value stands at $14.8 billion, the actual net out-of-pocket cash consideration for Uber shifts to approximately $13.7 billion. This adjustment accounts for the fact that Uber had already quietly built up a 24.77% voting stake in the capital and an additional 11.74% economic exposure via equity derivatives prior to the official declaration.
Furthermore, global tech investor Prosus, a major Delivery Hero stakeholder holding roughly 17% of the shares, has entered into an irrevocable commitment to tender its stake. This pushes Uber’s guaranteed economic interest to roughly 53%, clearing a vital path toward the deal’s minimum acceptance threshold of 50% plus one share.
To fund the transaction, Uber has secured a senior unsecured Bridge Credit Agreement with €14.2 billion in commitments. Company leadership emphasized their commitment to maintaining an investment-grade credit profile and to keeping gross leverage firmly below 2x.
Why Dara Khosrowshahi Sees “Compelling Value”
Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi heavily praised the strategic alignment, noting that the combination scales a proven platform into the world’s most dynamic economies.
“Together, we’ll nearly double the number of markets where we offer both mobility and delivery services,” Khosrowshahi stated during a call with Wall Street analysts. “By bringing our platforms together, we will extend affordable, reliable delivery to many millions more people… while creating more opportunities for merchants and couriers.”
A core financial driver of the acquisition is the cross-selling playbook. Uber intends to introduce its ride-hailing (Mobility) services to Delivery Hero’s deeply entrenched food-delivery customer base. The immediate target focus areas include:
- South Korea: Leveraging Delivery Hero’s dominant Baemin (Woowa Brothers) marketplace.
- The Middle East & North Africa (MENA): Utilizing regional powerhouses Talabat and Saudi Arabia’s HungerStation.
From a technical perspective, the integration is expected to be swift. Uber Chief Financial Officer Balaji Krishnamurthy noted that both delivery networks run on highly compatible back-end architectural frameworks. This structural compatibility allows the companies to target more than $1.2 billion in annualized cost and operational synergies within the first 18 months of closing. The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Uber’s Non-GAAP EPS upon close, climbing to high-single-digit percentage accretion by year three.
The Regulatory Counter-Strategy: The SSW Partners Carve-Out
Antitrust pushback from European and global regulators stands as the primary threat to tech megamergers. To proactively dismantle anti-monopoly challenges, Uber and Delivery Hero engineered a sophisticated, simultaneous split transaction.
Uber will not absorb the entirety of Delivery Hero’s corporate footprint. Instead, it will take over operations in 50 growth markets where competition boundaries permit. Concurrently, Delivery Hero has signed a separate agreement to divest its operations in 14 highly scrutinized markets to New York-based investment firm SSW Partners for approximately $1.6 billion.
These 14 excluded markets represent areas where Uber Eats and Delivery Hero have heavy operational overlap, which would immediately trigger antitrust warnings. The carved-out portfolio includes popular regional brands such as Glovo, Foodora, and Yemeksepeti, spanning European nations like Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Norway, and Turkey. SSW Partners will operate these units entirely independently and will spearhead the process of identifying separate long-term strategic partners. Uber will hold zero control or equity exposure in these divested market operations.
Local German Commitments & Timeline
Because Delivery Hero is an anchor of Germany’s DAX-adjacent tech ecosystem, Uber has agreed to massive, legally binding corporate safeguards to ease local anxiety:
- Headquarters: Delivery Hero’s corporate headquarters will remain in Berlin until at least 2029.
- Employment Protection: Berlin-based staff and operational workforces are guaranteed protections through 2029.
- Capital Investment: Uber has committed to investing €2 billion directly into Germany over the next five years.
The voluntary public takeover offer will be subject to customary financial regulatory sign-offs, merger control compliance, and foreign direct investment clearances. Both boards of directors have unanimously approved the terms, and the official closing of the transaction is targeted for the second half of 2027.
This transaction establishes a true heavyweight counterweight in the global quick-commerce arena, drawing direct battle lines against competing delivery networks such as DoorDash (which recently expanded through Deliveroo) and Prosus’s adjacent food-tech holdings.
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