By Najat Kantouar

Uber Technologies made a 10 billion-euro ($11.60 billion) takeover approach for Delivery Hero, the German company said, in a move that signaled continued appetite for deals in the food-delivery industry and lifted shares of the target.

The U.S. ride-hailing company has emerged as the biggest shareholder in Delivery Hero after making sizable stake purchases in recent weeks. Uber's takeover proposal comes after a period of intense change at Delivery Hero that saw the Berlin-based company reset its strategy, undergo major changes in its ownership structure and announce the departure of its co-founder and chief executive.

Shares in Delivery Hero jumped as much as 13% to 37.85 euros in European early morning trading Monday, adding to a rally that has sent its stock up by nearly two thirds since the start of the year.

Delivery Hero said Uber's indicative proposal to all its shareholders was valued at 33 euros a share. This compares with Delivery Hero's Friday closing price of 33.59 euros.

The company also said it remained fully focused on executing its strategic review and would provide further updates when required.

Uber didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The San Francisco-based company holds a direct stake of 19.5% in Delivery Hero, with an additional 5.6% held through financial contracts. As recently as last week, when it disclosed the latest share purchase, Uber said it had no intent to acquire 30% or more of Delivery Hero's voting rights and that it didn't plan to achieve a material change in the company's capital structure.

Delivery Hero previously said it welcomed Uber's investments.

A potential takeover of Delivery Hero would continue a string of food-delivery deals in recent years, as the industry moves toward consolidation after the end of a pandemic-era boom in demand prompted companies to look to join forces in pursuit of greater scale and efficiencies.

Last year, U.S. peer DoorDash agreed to acquire British food-delivery company Deliveroo in a cash deal for around 2.9 billion pounds to increase its global presence. Tech investor Prosus--a big investor in Delivery Hero and the owner of Latin American food-delivery platform iFood--took over Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com in a 4.1 billion-euro deal. And a former Walmart executive bought American food-delivery pioneer Grubhub from Just Eat Takeaway.

In an earlier wave of dealmaking, DoorDash acquired Finland's Wolt, while Delivery Hero took control of Spain's Glovo.

Prosus agreed to sell most of its stake in Delivery Hero to secure European Union approval for its takeover of Just Eat Takeaway, and its recent share sales have opened the door for Uber to raise a stake it started to build in 2024. Hong Kong-based investor Aspex Management also bought Delivery Hero shares from Prosus and it holds a 14.55% stake in the company, according to a regulatory filing published earlier this month.

Delivery Hero said earlier this month that its co-founder and CEO, Niklas Ostberg, would step down by March next year, but would lead dealmaking associated with a strategic review outlined in December last year. At the time, the company said it would explore deals for select operations.

Write to Najat Kantouar at najat.kantouar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 25, 2026 04:09 ET (08:09 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.