Uber has acquired food-delivery service company Postmates in a $2.65 billion stock.
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The ride-share company wanted to increase its shares in the food delivery market to help Postmates become more profitable amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The large move comes after their demand went down 75% within the second quarter as told by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi during a conference call with Wall Street analysts. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their Uber Eats subsidiary has doubled since everyone has stayed home to quarantine.
According to NPR, Khosrowshahi said, “Consumers and restaurants have been shifting towards delivery before COVID-19, but the pandemic has accelerated these trends, rapidly attracting new customers and restaurants.”
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Postmates CEO Bastian Lehmann confirmed the news on his Twitter page and congratulated his team for the move.
9 Years ago we celebrated the first 1000 deliveries: https://t.co/wirePeeqcf – today we celebrate again. Well done Team @postmates, well done. ❤️
— Bastian Lehmann (@Basti) July 6, 2020
Another reason for the decision was due to Postmates’ strong relationship with small- and medium restaurants plus the app will continue to stay the same after the purchase is completed.