30th Sep 2025 15:11
(Alliance News) - Deliveroo's GBP2.9 billion takeover by American firm DoorDash has been approved by a judge at the High Court.
The food delivery giant, which operates in nine countries with more than 138,000 riders, announced the takeover in May.
The move is set to take effect on Thursday and will create a combined firm with a presence across 40 countries and handling about USD90 billion, around GBP67.7 billion, of orders each year.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Alastair Norris said the takeover was "entirely straightforward" and that he was "happy to sanction" the move.
Deliveroo, which is based in London, made sales of around GBP2 billion in 2024 and confirmed in April that it had received an "indicative proposal" from DoorDash earlier that month.
The San Francisco-based company will pay 180p a share in cash for the London-listed Deliveroo, meaning the latter's staff, who are believed to collectively hold around 36 million shares, are due to be set for a GBP65 million payout.
DoorDash was set up in 2013, co-founded by chief executive Tony Xu, who has led the company ever since.
It operates in more than 30 countries and delivers over 2.5 billion orders a year, helping it notch up revenues of USD10.7 billion, around GBP8 billion, in 2024.
It does not operate in the countries covered by Deliveroo.
Xu said in May that he "could not be more excited" about the merger, while Will Shu, who founded Deliveroo in 2013, said that the move marked a "transformative new chapter".
In written submissions for the hearing on Tuesday, Andrew Thornton KC, for Deliveroo, said the takeover "will not have any adverse impact" on the company's creditors and was unanimously recommended by its independent directors.
He continued that the scheme was also approved by Deliveroo's shareholders at a meeting in June.
In court, Thornton said that two shareholders had been identified as being sanctioned by the Government over their ties to Russia.
The barrister said that the transfer of their shares would be "delayed" until "they cease to be sanctioned", with Norris stating that their shares would be "excluded from the scheme".
DoorDash is now expected to start a six to 12-month review of the merged group, with a potential reduction of around 1% to 3% of the combined workforce, largely in general administrative and business support roles.
It said in May that some of Deliveroo's offices and support functions would also no longer be needed, given that it would not be listed after the deal, which would result in a "small number" of job cuts.
But it also confirmed it would honour the agreement between Deliveroo's riders and the GMB trade union, while Deliveroo said that DoorDash does not plan to make major changes to its London headquarters.
Earlier this month, Shu announced that he was to leave his role as Deliveroo's chief executive, claiming he wanted to "contemplate his next challenge".
Deliveroo's non-executive directors, who include Cafe Rouge founder Dame Karen Jones and Flutter boss Peter Jackson, are also due to step down following the approval of the takeover.
Deliveroo shares were 0.1% at 179.74 pence in London on Tuesday afternoon. Shares in DoorDash were down 1.0% at USD269.89 in New York.
source: PA
Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Deliveroo