Major food delivery service company Foodpanda's parent company Delivery Hero has ended negotiations to sell its Taiwan business to competitor Uber Eats. Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Chairperson Li Mei (李鎂) spoke to the legislature on Monday, requesting a public hearing should a merger be agreed upon, due to the popularity of both companies and the public attention that their combination will draw.
Li said that any proposed integration plan would need to be reviewed since the union would give Uber Eats eighty percent of Taiwan’s market share. She added that relevant industry and consumer groups would be invited and a decision would be made after all opinions have been collected.
KMT legislator Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) also pointed out that there are currently more than 140,000 food delivery workers in the country, most of them working for these two major platforms. She requested that the FTC consider how the merger would affect the employment rights and interests of delivery workers, as merchants and driving personnel would not have much bargaining power.
Delivery Hero valued Foodpanda’s Taiwan share selling price at more than US$1 billion, to which Uber Eats responded by canceling in-depth negotiations. Delivery Hero remains open to talks.