Germany’s Delivery Hero and its Spanish business Glovo were raided by European Union antitrust regulators, the online food ordering companies said Wednesday (July 6).
As Reuters reported, the raid came after the European Commission said online food and grocery delivery firms in two European nations were being investigated over concerns that they were in a cartel.
The commission defines a cartel as a group of independent companies that come together to fix prices, put limits on production or share markets or customers.
“The investigation concerns an alleged agreement or concerted practice to share national markets for the online ordering and delivery of food, groceries and other consumer goods in the European Union,” the commission said in a statement.
According to Reuters, Delivery Hero said the visit from the regulators to its Berlin office does not mean they have concluded the company broke any laws. The company and its subsidiary Glovo — headquartered in Barcelona — said they were cooperating with the commission.
Spokespeople for several high-profile delivery companies — including Just Eat Takeaway, Uber, Bolt, Gorillas, Flink and DoorDash’s Wolt — all told Reuters they were not involved in the raids.
Businesses that are found guilty of violating the EU’s antitrust regulations could be punished by fines of up to 10% of their turnover.
PYMNTS reported in May that Delivery Hero was struggling with a downturn that had seen the company lose about 75% of its value, with its share price dipping below its initial public offering (IPO) price at one point.
See more: Delivery Hero Loses 75% of Its Value, Briefly Falls Below 2017 IPO Price
It was part of a larger trend that has seen many food delivery services — including Just Eat and Deliveroo — experience steep declines this year.
That downturn marked a drastic reversal from the food delivery sector’s position last year, thanks to a boom in demand from the pandemic. But as restrictions have lifted and inflation has risen, people have come to rely less and less on food delivery.
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