Oh, Uber Eats – one of the great inventions of our time. The company behind the food-delivery app, Uber, has acquired another food delivery service in the US called Postmates. Postmates was the fourth-largest food delivery company in that neck of the woods.
This week, Uber bought Postmates for a whole $2.65 billion, after which Uber said it’s sure it’ll be profitable by 2021. If you forgot, Uber has not exactly been profitable since it started. Because the best way to deal with financial loss due to a global pandemic is by buying yourself something nice, like a company. While you’re in the red.
“The deal merges the fourth-largest U.S. food delivery company with Uber Eats, the second-largest service by market share after DoorDash, according to Second Measure and Edison Trends,” Forbes details.
“We’re very confident we’re going to get to profitability next year and we have enough of a diversified portfolio to make that statement with quite a bit of confidence,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said to CNBC.
But is it all a financial stunt? Not likely, but since the news dropped, Uber’s stock rose by 7% as the markets get ready for a more profitable Uber. This after its Rides segment of the company lost about 75% of its business during the harsh lockdown globally, but it has picked up since, with Uber only trailing 60% of its business.
Lucky for them though, more people are ordering takeout food than ever before, which has increased the Eats side of the company. Thanks to this, restaurants can continue to operate and the food retail segment of the economy has a fighting chance.