Uber halts European food-delivery expansion targeting Delivery Hero
▼ Summary
– Uber has paused five of its seven planned 2026 European launches in Austria, Norway, Czech Republic, Romania, and Greece, proceeding only with Denmark and Finland.
– Uber publicly cites strong momentum in existing markets as the reason for the pause, focusing on current operations rather than expansion.
– A more likely reason is Uber’s pursuit of a €10bn takeover of Delivery Hero, which operates in all five paused markets through brands like Foodora and Glovo.
– Pausing expansion avoids antitrust issues that would arise from launching Uber Eats against a company it is trying to acquire.
– Buying Delivery Hero would give Uber a global delivery empire across 65 countries, though Uber has not confirmed this as the motive for the pause.
Five months ago, Uber publicly pledged to storm five new European countries with its food-delivery app. Now, it has quietly hit the brakes, and the most compelling explanation points to a €10bn takeover bid for a major rival.
Uber has paused five of its seven planned 2026 European launches, according to a report from the Financial Times. The company announced its expansion push in February, targeting Austria, Norway, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Greece. Those five markets are now on hold. Only Denmark and Finland, where Uber Eats has already gone live, are proceeding as scheduled.
The official reason Uber gives is momentum. The company told the FT that its recent launches in Finland and Denmark performed well, so it wants to concentrate on strengthening the markets it already serves. The original plan was ambitious. Uber had projected an additional $1bn in gross bookings over three years across Europe’s crowded food-delivery landscape.
The likelier reason tells a different story, one that involves a takeover. Uber is pursuing Delivery Hero, the German food-delivery giant that rejected its roughly €10bn bid in May. Uber already owns about 19.5 per cent of the company, and it continues to buy shares.
Here is the catch. Delivery Hero operates in nearly every market Uber just paused. Its Foodora brand runs in Austria, Norway, and the Czech Republic. efood covers Greece, and Glovo operates in Romania.
Launching Uber Eats directly against an incumbent, then trying to buy that same company, would invite a serious antitrust headache. An industry source told TechCrunch that pausing the expansion could ease precisely those regulatory concerns.
Why it matters is clear. Delivery Hero is no small prize. It claims 40,000 staff across 65 countries and leads food delivery outside the US, with strong positions in the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Oddly, it no longer operates in its home market of Germany, after a rival forced it out in 2021. Buying it would hand Uber a sprawling delivery empire in a single move.
Uber has not confirmed this as the motive. It calls the pause a matter of focus, not retreat. But the timing is hard to ignore. Europe’s competition regulators are unusually assertive, and a company circling a target this big tends to avoid stepping on its toes. Delivery Hero, meanwhile, says it welcomes Uber’s investment.
For now, Uber’s European map has two new pins instead of seven. The missing five may say more about dealmaking than about appetite.
(Source: The Next Web)
