The European Commission has approved DoorDash’s plan to purchase rival food delivery platform Deliveroo.
As Reuters reported Tuesday (Sept. 9), the approval clears the way for the $3.9 billion deal, first agreed to in May, soon after reports of a possible acquisition first emerged.
The report also noted that this is a significant milestone for the meal delivery industry, allowing DoorDash to extend its footprint outside the U.S.
Reuters said the commission, which is the regulatory arm of the European Union, ended its review without objection, allowing the companies to finalize the transaction.
DoorDash had approached Deliveroo about an acquisition last year, though discussions between the companies ended after the two sides couldn’t agree on a valuation. DoorDash acquired Deliveroo’s Finnish rival Wolt in 2021.
The company had said earlier this year that it was seeing an increasing number of users order from not only restaurants but also from its new verticals that include a range of different retailers.
“Since launching its new verticals offering in the U.S. in mid-2020 by adding groceries and convenience, the aggregator has expanded to include alcohol, pets, flowers, health and beauty, sporting goods and home improvement,” PYMNTS noted in a report earlier this year.
Research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows that consumers continue to embrace services like these despite living paycheck to paycheck.
The ongoing effects of inflation, with prices continuing to climb for things like groceries, shelter and clothing, is felt acutely by lower-income consumers. These are people earning less than $50,000 annually, with nearly three-quarters of households at or below that threshold living paycheck to paycheck.
“And yet the data show that about 59% of consumers in those income brackets use convenience services — getting groceries delivered, for example, or restaurant deliveries,” PYMNTS wrote. “About a third of them opt to have home maintenance services or repair work done by providers rather than going the do-it-yourself route.”
In terms of the categories with the most appeal, the study found that grocery and restaurant delivery are the most popular convenience services, each with 55% adoption overall throughout the general population.
Consumers who live paycheck to paycheck and have issues paying their bills were the most likely to have used grocery delivery or pickup at least once in the past year, at 59%, while half of consumers who don’t live paycheck to paycheck likely used grocery delivery.