EU competition watchdogs have searched the offices of Mjam mother Delivery Hero in Berlin and recently acquired Spanish competitor Glovo on suspicion of cartel formation. Food delivery services Delivery Hero and Glovo announced on Wednesday that they are fully cooperating with the European Commission to support the investigation.
The searches do not mean that competition law has actually been infringed and do not prejudge the outcome of the investigation. Delivery Hero only completed the acquisition of Glovo announced Monday for 780 million euros. Previously, the Berliners owned 44 percent of the start-up, which was valued at around 2.3 billion euros.
The EU antitrust authority said it had searched several food and grocery delivery services in two EU countries for suspected cartel formation. Neither names nor countries were mentioned, nor were there any details about the alleged collusion. A spokesman for the Federal Cartel Office confirmed to Reuters that the Bonn authority assisted the EU commission on June 27 in an inspection of online delivery services. A Glovo spokesman said the raids took place in Barcelona last week.
In addition to Delivery Hero, the largest providers in the EU are Lieferando owner Just Eat Takeaway.com, Uber Eats and Wolt van DoorDash. With the exception of Delivery Hero, they all said they had not been searched. So did the fast food delivery services Gorillas, Flink and Bolt.
Companies that have violated EU competition rules face fines of up to ten percent of their annual turnover.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
