Before the pandemic, restaurant delivery was a niche service, mostly reserved for pizza and that one questionable Chinese place that always threw in a free calendar. Then, lockdowns turned everyone into a professional food critic, and companies like Just Eat Takeaway saw their valuations explode.

By 2021, Just Eat’s stock hit $108 per share, giving the company a $19 billion market cap (because nobody wanted to cook anymore). Feeling unstoppable, Just Eat made a $7.3 billion impulse buy… acquiring Grubhub to establish a foothold in the U.S. (because that had worked out so well for European companies before).

Then reality hit. As restrictions lifted and people rediscovered the joys of eating in public, Just Eat’s stock tanked nearly 80%. Revenue growth stalled, orders slowed, and suddenly, that Grubhub acquisition looked less like a genius move (to say the least). In November 2023, Just Eat dumped Grubhub for just $650 million… a 91% loss.

Dutch investment firm Prosus, which already owns 28% of Delivery Hero and has stakes in Meituan and Swiggy, decided this was their moment. Today, Prosus announced a $4.3 billion all-cash buyout, valuing Just Eat at $22 per share… a 63% premium over last week’s price. Even with the boost, the deal is still a shadow of Just Eat’s former pandemic-era valuation.

This caused Just Eat’s stock to shoot up 54%, hitting a fresh 52-week high, while Prosus’ stock dropped 7% (clearly their investors are less excited about dumpster-diving for delivery companies).

Prosus insists they have a “master plan” to fix Just Eat… leaning on AI-driven efficiencies, logistics optimizations, and industry consolidation (which we all know is code for “cutting costs”).

But let’s be real… Just Eat is the true winner in this deal. For a company that was struggling to regain investor confidence after its Grubhub misadventure, this $4.3 billion payday provides a much-needed reset. They shed an underperforming U.S. asset, maintained a strong European presence, and got acquired at a premium when their stock was on the floor.

Meanwhile, Prosus just paid billions for a company that, while still operationally solid in Europe, has seen better days. Whether Prosus can turn this into a success story remains to be seen, but one thing’s clear: Just Eat found a way to cash out while it still could.

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Stock.News does not have positions in companies mentioned.