Wonder Group said on Wednesday that it is buying Just Eat Takeaway.com’s U.S. business, Grubhub in a deal valued at $650 million.
The deal is expected to be completed by Q1 2025.
Wonder is owned by businessman Marc Lore, the former Walmart e-commerce CEO and part-owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Lore said that the company aims to create a super app for food delivery through this acquisition.
“We’re excited to soon offer a curated selection of Grubhub’s restaurant partners directly in the Wonder app, alongside our owned and operated restaurants and meal kits. Bringing Wonder and Grubhub together is the next step in our vision to create the super app for meal time, re-envisioning the future of food delivery,” Lore said.
“The sale of Grubhub to Wonder will increase the cash generation capabilities of Just Eat Takeaway.com and will accelerate our growth. This deal delivers the right home for Grubhub and its employees. I would like to thank everyone at Grubhub for their contributions to both Grubhub and the wider Just Eat Takeaway.com business,” Just Eat Takeaway’s founder, Jitse Groen, said.
Just Eat Takeaway expects net proceeds of $50 million. Wonder, which started as a food delivery business in 2018 but has since pivoted to operating delivery-focused restaurants in New York and Philadelphia, will take on $500 million of Grubhub’s debt.
Just Eat Takeaway itself has been trying to sell Grubhub for years. The company first announced it was looking to sell Grubhub in April 2022 to focus on profitability, less than a year after closing the deal to acquire it, but last year, its CEO said a sale was proving to be “very difficult.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Just Eat purchased Grubhub for more than $7 billion in 2021. Wonder has 28 locations in the Northeastern United States.
