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The
deal is a major relief for Just Eat Takeaway, Europe's largest
meals company, whose stock had fallen 70% this year.
Shareholders have demanded it sell or find a partner for Grubhub,
which it bought just last year for $5.8 billion in shares.
Just Eat Takeway specified in a statement it continues to
"explore the partial or full sale of Grubhub" though there is no
certaintainty any deal will be reached.
In a note on the Amazon deal, analysts from JPMorgan said it
would bring new customers and strengthen Grubhub's position in
the United States, comparable to a partnership Amazon has in
Britain with Just Eat competitor Deliveroo.
"While Grubhub is now only a smaller part of Just Eat
Takeaaway's portfolio, representing about 20% of estimated 2023
revenues, this step improves JET's position in potentially
selling (Grubhub)," analysts wrote.
Shares in Just Eat were up 17% at 16.13 euros at 0838 GMT in
Amsterdam trading.
Under the deal announced as part of Amazon's July "Prime Day"
promotion on Wednesday, Amazon customers will receive free
delivery on orders over $12 in the 4,000 cities where Grubhub
operates.
The deal will drive traffic for Grubhub, which has lost share to
Doordash and Uber Eats as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
wanes.
In exchange, Amazon will receive warrants representing 2% of
Grubhub's shares, and an additional 13% of shares conditional on
the deal bringing Grubhub enough customers.
"The agreement is expected to expand membership to Grubhub+,
while having a neutral impact on Grubhub's 2022 earnings and
cash flow, and be earnings and cash flow accretive for Grubhub
from 2023 onwards," Just Eat Takeaway said in a statement.
The company said that Grubhub's gross assets were worth 6.5
billion euros ($6.67 billion) at the end of 2021, and it made a
pretax loss of 403 million euros in that year.
($1 = 0.9746 euros)
(Reporting by Elena Vardon, Piotr Lipinski, Toby Sterling,
Editing by Louise Heavens and Kim Coghill)
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