Grubhub founder made $1bn proposals to buy company back from Just Eat Takeaway

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The founder of Grubhub said he twice attempted to buy back the food delivery business from Just Eat Takeaway for more than $1bn, making the revelation days after the Dutch group announced a deal to sell its US subsidiary at a huge loss for just $650mn.

Matt Maloney, who co-founded Chicago-based Grubhub in 2004, told the Financial Times that he led an effort to buy the US unit around the start of this year and in early 2022, with backing from “internationally known” private equity firms.

The details of these previous approaches come after JET on Wednesday said it had struck a deal to sell Grubhub for an enterprise value of $650mn to US-based Wonder Group, years after buying it for $7.3bn at the height of the pandemic-driven food delivery boom.

The announcement marked the culmination of JET’s two-year plan to unwind its 2021 takeover of Grubhub, after it came under shareholder pressure that year to sell assets. In April 2022, JET said it was exploring a full or partial sale of the subsidiary a year after the acquisition, saying at the time it had received unsolicited takeover approaches.

Maloney, who led Grubhub as chief executive before it was sold to JET, said that both times he issued written proposals for more than $1bn.

“Both were rejected by JET management. After the second attempt I was told that [JET chief executive] Jitse [Groen] was not interested in selling the company back to me so I stopped trying and no one reached out to me or my financial partners around the time of this deal to inquire if we would beat this offer,” he said.

Maloney added he was excited for Wonder’s plans for Grubhub and for the company to enter a new chapter.

Maloney joined the company’s management board following the completion of Grubhub’s acquisition in June 2021 and stepped down that December. A person familiar with the matter said Maloney had minimal contact with the company since his exit.

JET said in a statement there were “two private equity approaches that had some involvement of Mr Maloney in 2022 and 2023”, adding that “neither were declined by Just Eat Takeaway with the respective firms retracting themselves post due diligence”.

It said the company, together with its advisers, had “engaged with a large number of interested parties and have entertained all approaches for Grubhub in the past years” and was pleased to have now successfully agreed an acquisition of Grubhub by Wonder.

Shortly after JET’s acquisition of Grubhub, the company in 2022 wrote down its value by €3bn. Last year, it posted a €4.6bn impairment charge that included writedowns for the subsidiary as well as Just Eat’s merger with Takeaway in 2020. JET in February booked another €1.5bn impairment charge from past acquisitions.

Under the terms of Wonder’s acquisition of Grubhub, the unit will be transferred with its $500mn of senior notes and is expected to result in net proceeds of up to $50mn after customary adjustments for JET.

On Wednesday, Groen said the sale would increase JET’s cash generation capabilities and accelerate its growth.

Shares in the food delivery company rose 20 per cent in morning trading in response to the agreement. However, its market capitalisation is around €3bn as its shares have fallen almost 90 per cent over the past four years.

Grubhub generated gross transaction value of €8bn, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of €94mn and free cash flow before changes in working capital of negative €77mn in the financial year to the end of December 2023.