European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation against Delivery Hero and Glovo to assess whether they have infringed EU competition rules by participating in a cartel in the online ordering and delivery of food, groceries and other daily consumer goods sector, including suspicions of geographic market sharing between competitors, the exchange of competition-sensitive information (e.g. commercial strategies, prices, capacity, costs, product characteristics) and a gentleman's agreement on the labor market.
Delivery Hero and Glovo are two of Europe's largest food delivery companies. Delivery Hero held a minority stake in Glovo from July 2018 and acquired sole control of Glovo in July 2022. The Commission considers that the practices at issue may have been facilitated by Delivery Hero's minority stake in Glovo prior to the acquisition.
This investigation is noteworthy both because it is the first investigation into no-poach agreements formally initiated by the Commission and because it is the first investigation by the Commission into anti-competitive agreements that may have occurred in the context of an undertaking holding a minority stake in a competitor.
(European Commission - 23.07.2024)
NAZALI TAX & LEGAL