The European Union has issued a 329 million euro (£278m) fine against food delivery apps Delivery Hero and Glovo for taking part in what it called a cartel involving agreements on territory and not poaching one another’s staff.
The European Commission said the cartel operated from July 2018 to July 2022, a period in which Germany’s Delivery Hero had a minority stake in Spain’s Glovo.
Delivery Hero increased its stake in Glovo to 94 percent in July 2022.
Reduced penalty
The companies admitted wrongdoing in exchange for a 10 percent reduction in their fines.
Delivery Hero last year said it was setting aside 400m euros to deal with the EU’s competition probe and said on Monday that the final amount was “lower than anticipated”.
It said the settlement would enable “stakeholders to move on swiftly” and that it was committed to “continuing a culture of compliance” in its organisation.
The EU’s probe began in July 2024 and followed raids of Delivery Hero’s and Glovo’s premises in June 2022 and November 2023.
The Commission said Delivery Hero had used its stake in Glovo to coordinate with it, exchanging commercially sensitive information and dividing up territories, which it said led to reduced choice and higher prices for consumers.
The data exchanged included prices, commercial strategies, capacity and costs, the Commission said.
Effect on ‘daily life’
“Today’s decision shows once again that competition rules matter to citizens’ daily life,” said EU competition commissioner Teresa Ribera.
The illegal coordination operated during the Covid-19 pandemic, a time of intense demand for food delivery due to widespread lockdowns.
More recently demand has levelled off, leading to consolidation amongst delivery firms.
Delivery Hero was fined 223m euros and Glovo’s was 105.7m euros.
The Berlin-based company said the Commission had lowered the total value of the fine from the previously estimated 400m euros as it acknowledged “a lower intensity of the issues investigated for some periods”.
Both companies operate worldwide, with Delivery Hero operating in more than 70 countries and Glovo in more than 20 countries.
