AFP :
Taiwan has rejected ride-hailing giant Uber’s plan to buy Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda on the island, stating on Wednesday that the deal would significantly harm market competition.
The US ride-hailing giant was aiming to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan by the first half of 2025 for US$950 million, merging the top two players in Taiwan’s food delivery market.
“If Uber acquires Foodpanda, it will be completely unrestrained by competition,” Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) vice chairman Chen Chi-ming told a press conference.
“The disadvantages to market competition from this merger far outweigh its economic benefits,” Chen said, adding that the merged companies’ market share would exceed 90 percent.
“No corrective measures could sufficiently ensure competition would be maintained,” he said.
Uber had described the deal, announced in May, as one of Taiwan’s largest international deals outside the semiconductor industry.
Chen said the FTC conducted an economic analysis to assess the merger’s impact on competition, and received over 600 responses from food delivery platforms and relevant agencies.
