Deliveroo sold to US rival for £2.9billion as food app could disappear from your phone

American firm DoorDash is set to takeover British food delivery giant Deliveroo in a deal with almost £3billion that will see the companies merge into one super firm operating in 40 countries

09:42, 06 May 2025Updated 09:44, 06 May 2025

Deliveroo is to be taken over by US rival DoorDash(Image: Getty Images)

One of the UK’s most popular food delivery apps may soon disappear from users’ phones after it agreed to a £2.9billion takeover from its US rival.

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San Francisco-based DoorDash will pay 180p a share in cash for UK food delivery giant Deliveroo in a move set to create a combined firm with a presence across 40 countries and handle about £67.7 billion of orders each year.

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The 180p offer represents a 29% premium to the 140p closing price the day before the approach was confirmed late last month. The takeover has been recommended by a committee of the board of Deliveroo, which does not include its CEO and co-founder Will Shu and non executive director Tom Stafford.

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Deliveroo, who last week teamed up with Luke Littler to find Britain's best kebab, have hit the bullseye with this deal

Shu’s 5.9% holding is worth around £172million if the deal goes through at the agreed price. DoorDash said the financial terms of the acquisition were final and would not be increased unless a third party steps in with a rival bid.

The firms said in a statement: “The combination with Deliveroo will strengthen DoorDash’s position as a leading global platform in local commerce, enabling the combined entity to better serve businesses, consumers and couriers.”

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Deliveroo was founded in 2013 by Will Shu and his childhood friend Greg Orlowski and now operates across nine countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Ireland, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore, United Arab Emirates as well as the UK.

Deliveroo is famous for its blue bikes(Image: AP)

It served around seven million monthly active consumers in 2024, making sales of around £2billion, and works with more than 130,000 riders across the world.

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While no plans have yet been confirmed, the merger could see the Deliveroo app disappear from UK users' mobile phones and replaced with the DoorDash logo instead as the US firm expands its global reach.

Mr Shu said: “We are now at the beginning of a transformative new chapter. DoorDash and Deliveroo are like-minded organisations with a shared strategic vision and aligned values. Together, we will be even better positioned to serve consumers, merchants, riders and local communities.

Yanks a lot! American firm DoorDash is take the firm over in a deal worth almost £3billion(Image: AP)

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“The enlarged group will have the scale to invest in product, technology and the overall consumer value proposition.”

DoorDash was also set up in 2013, co-founded by chief executive Tony Xu, who has led the company ever since.

It operates in over 30 countries and delivers more than 2.5 billion orders a year, helping it notch up revenues of 10.7 billion US dollars (£8billion) in 2024.

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Mr Xu said: “I could not be more excited by the prospect of what DoorDash and Deliveroo will be able to accomplish together.

“We’ll cover more than 40 countries with a combined population of more than one billion people, enabling us to provide more local businesses with the tools and technology they need to thrive.”

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The deal is expected to complete in the final three months of 2025 but will need to be approved by Deliveroo’s shareholders.

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