Credit: Postmates

With this acquisition, Uber will have a sizable stake in the takeout industry.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, takeout dining delivery has become a much more important industry, bordering on essential. Both customers and businesses need reliable, clean drivers to pick up and deliver food, and this need has spurred some incredible growth in the last few months. There are multiple businesses that employ the same model of average citizens signing up to pick up, drive, and deliver food, with two of the most ubiquitous being Postmates and Uber Eats, a spin-off of the Uber travel service. These two delivery giants will soon be joining forces, and are set to take the world by storm.


It was announced this morning that Uber and Postmates have officially inked a deal for the former to acquire the latter in a $2.65 billion buyout. Rather than absorbing them, though, Uber will set Postmates as a member of the Uber family of services, allowing it to continue maintaining its own customer-facing app while supporting it with Uber’s larger delivery network.

“Uber and Postmates have long shared a belief that platforms like ours can power much more than just food delivery—they can be a hugely important part of local commerce and communities, all the more important during crises like COVID-19. As more people and more restaurants have come to use our services, Q2 bookings on Uber Eats are up more than 100 percent year on year. We’re thrilled to welcome Postmates to the Uber family as we innovate together to deliver better experiences for consumers, delivery people, and merchants across the country,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

Credit: Issei Kato/Reuters

Currently, the most popular open-source takeout service is DoorDash, with its biggest competitors being GrubHub, Uber Eats, and Postmates. Rumors were circulating before Uber announced their deal with Postmates that the company was looking for another service to team up with after losing out on a deal with GrubHub. With Uber and Postmates teaming up, combining Uber’s network with Postmates’ popularity in densely populated areas like Los Angeles, they now have a genuine shot at dethroning DoorDash.