Delivery Hero boards back Uber's nearly $15 billion takeover

Both boards at Delivery Hero have told shareholders to take Uber's offer. In a joint reasoned statement published on September 2, the German food-delivery company's Management Board and Supervisory Board said Uber's cash bid of EUR 41.50 per share is fair and adequate and recommended that holders accept. US wires put the whole deal at nearly $15 billion, about $14.8 billion.

This is a recommendation, not a done deal. A joint reasoned statement is the step where a target's boards formally weigh a public takeover offer and tell shareholders what they think of it. It is not antitrust clearance, not a completed acquisition, and not the close of the tender. The binding version is in German; the English text is a non-binding translation.

The money

On price, both boards leaned on the premium. Uber's EUR 41.50 is roughly 127 percent above Delivery Hero's unaffected three-month volume-weighted average through May 8, 2026, about 108 percent above that day's XETRA close, and around 52 percent above the average analyst price target before that date. J.P. Morgan gave a fairness opinion to both boards, and UniCredit advised the Supervisory Board. In the boards' own words, they "deem the Offer to be in the best interest of the Company, its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders."

The math the headlines skipped

Here is what most "board backs Uber" write-ups leave out: the vote is close to decided before it starts. Uber already owns 24.77 percent of Delivery Hero, holds another 11.74 percent through financial instruments, and has an irrevocable undertaking to tender 16.68 percent more. Stack those and Uber's economic interest already tops 53 percent of current share capital. Because the offer's minimum acceptance threshold is 50 percent plus one share (excluding treasury stock), that floor is effectively covered on paper before the acceptance window even closes on November 5, 2026 at 24:00 CET.

What could still stop it

None of that means Uber has bought Delivery Hero. The offer, whose offer document went out on August 27, still hangs on merger-control and other regulatory approvals, including clearances tied to a planned sale of select Delivery Hero operations to an affiliate of SSW Partners, LP. The company guides completion to the second half of 2027, not this quarter. A signed board recommendation and a covered threshold shorten the odds; they do not close the deal.

It is the latest in a heavy run of 2026 consolidation, alongside the closed $34.5 billion Charter and Cox merger, BitGo's move for NYDIG's trading arm, and Socure's $5.2 billion-valued deal. In payments and platforms, Uber's push to own more of the delivery stack rhymes with Stripe's reported bid moves.

For a Delivery Hero or Uber shareholder, three gauges matter between now and close: the tender percentage as it climbs past the 50-percent-plus-one floor by November 5, whether antitrust regulators clear both the deal and the SSW carve-out, and any slippage in the second-half-2027 timeline. The recommendation is in, so watch the acceptance rate and the regulators, because that is what still decides it.