Taiwan Blocks Uber’s $950 Million Takeover of Local Foodpanda Business
Uber had aimed to close the deal in the first half of 2025
Taiwan has blocked Uber Technologies’ UBER -0.26%decrease; red down pointing triangle planned $950 million takeover of Foodpanda’s local delivery business on anticompetition concerns, thwarting the U.S. company’s efforts to expand in Asia.
Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday that competition pressure on Uber’s food-delivery unit in Taiwan stems mainly from Foodpanda, and that eliminating that dynamic would incentivize Uber to raise prices for consumers and eateries on its platform.
The merger would also make it more difficult for other potential competitors to enter the market, the FTC said.
Uber said in a statement that it was disappointed by the decision, and that it had previously made proposals to address Taiwan’s competition concerns. It said it would nonetheless continue to invest in Taiwan, which it described as one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for food delivery.
Delivery Hero, the Berlin-based owner of Foodpanda, said Uber could appeal the decision or terminate the deal.
San Francisco-based Uber in May had announced its plans to buy Foodpanda’s Taiwan delivery business for $950 million in cash, along with a separate $300 million purchase of newly issued ordinary shares of Delivery Hero. It had aimed to close the deal—one of the largest international acquisitions in Taiwan outside of the semiconductor industry—in the first half of 2025.
Uber, which also has operations in Japan and Hong Kong in Asia, said at the time that it expected the acquisition to contribute at least $150 million annually to the adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of its delivery business within 12 months of closing.
Asia is Delivery Hero’s largest market, accounting for about 36% of the company’s revenue in 2023. Foodpanda’s operations in Taiwan were breakeven in terms of adjusted Ebitda in the fiscal year ending March 2024, Delivery Hero said in May.