Uber Technologies showed that it is still bullish on delivery business when it reached an agreement to purchase the remaining shares of Cornershop
If the deal goes through, Uber will own 100% of the grocery delivery startup and make it its wholly-owned subsidiary. Cornershop currently operates in the US, Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Canada.
The terms of the deal were not fully disclosed, but it is expected to close in July. It is expected to be an all-stock transaction and will involve Uber issuing 29 million shares of its stock to the minority Cornershop investors.
Uber started offering grocery delivery in select cities across Latin America, Canada and the US last summer after it acquired Postmates in a deal valued at $2.65 billion. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement that the company’s grocery and new verticals business has exceeded a $3 billion annual bookings run rate for this year.
The remaining stake that Uber wants to buy represents a minority interest of 47% in Cornershop, having already acquired the majority stake in the third quarter of 2020.
“Uber already owns more than 50% of Cornershop and we’ve seen how working together can deliver great results, like our joint 2020 launch of Brazil, where in no time we became a leading player. But to truly unlock the full potential of this partnership, we need to operate as one company,” Oskar Hjertonsson, founder and CEO of Cornershop, said in a tweet.
“Cornershop’s financial results are already fully consolidated in the company’s financial statements given the company’s existing majority ownership, therefore no change is expected to the company’s gross bookings, revenue or adjusted EBITDA as a result of the transaction,” Uber said in an SEC filing.
TechCrunch reported that Uber has focused its acquisition efforts on its Eats segment during the coronavirus pandemic. Uber acquired Postmates last July after it failed to buy food delivery service GrubHub. It also acquired alcohol delivery service Drizly in February.
