The tech industry continues to monopolize, as Uber announces its new deal to buy the food delivery app Postmates for $2.65 billion in an all-stock deal.
The buyout follows Uber’s failed attempt to purchase Grubhub last month.
"Uber and Postmates have long shared a belief that platforms like ours can power much more than just food delivery — they can be a hugely important part of local commerce and communities, all the more important during crises like COVID-19," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement Monday.
While Uber began as a ride-sharing app, the company launched Uber Eats in 2014. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep Americans in their homes, Uber has turned to expanding its food delivery service, calling Postmates “highly complementary” to this mission.
"At a time when our Rides business is down significantly due to shelter-in-place, our Eats business is surging," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in early May, according to CNN.
But Uber’s expansion into the food delivery industry does not come without competition. Per CNN, Grubhub was valued at $7.3 billion at the time of its acquisition by Just Eat Takeaway.com, a company based out of the Netherlands. Meanwhile, the delivery service DoorDash is valued at nearly $16 billion and Instacart, which is a grocery delivery service, is worth a reported $14 billion.
While Postmates was one of the earliest apps of its kind, launching in 2011, it also continues to be one of the smallest.
“Over the past eight years we have been focused on a single mission: enable anyone to have anything delivered to them on-demand,” Postmates Co-Founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann said in Monday’s statement. “Joining forces with Uber will continue that mission as we continue to build Postmates while creating an even stronger platform that brings this mission to life for our customers.”
Uber recently decided to extend its mask requirement for all ridesharing, launching a "No Mask, No Ride" campaign at the beginning of this month.
