Just Eat Takeaway.com NV (LSE:JET, NASDAQ:GRUB) has finally got shot of its disastrous US acquisition GrubHub after its sale to start-up WonderGroup was signed off today.
Amsterdam-listed Just Eat bought the Chicago-based business in 2021 for US$7.3 billion but put it up for sale just a year later as sales plummeted once the pandemic lockdowns came to an end.
A deal was finally agreed in November, but only for a knockdown price of US$650 million, meaning a book loss of around US$6.5 billion on the deal.
In reality, the outcome was worse with Just Eat netting only US$ 50 million from the sale as the bulk of the consideration was accounted for by the transfer of debts to the new owner.
“The sale of Grubhub to Wonder will increase the cash generation capabilities of Just Eat Takeaway.com and will accelerate our growth," Just Eat founder Jitse Groen said after the November announcement:
In December, Just Eat Takeaway also dropped its secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange in late 2024 in a bid to cut costs having earlier cancelled its Nasdaq listing.