Amazon has secured the right to buy a 2% stake in food delivery platform Grubhub, a move that aims to boost Amazon U.S. Prime member subscriptions and expand the retail giant into the meal delivery business.
The deal announced on Wednesday will allow Amazon´s loyalty club members to use Just Eat Takeaway’s Grubhub without delivery fees on orders over $12 in more than 4,000 cities across the U.S.
“The value of a Prime membership continues to grow with this offer,” said Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime in a statement.
According to media reports Netherlands-based Just Eat Takeaway is exploring a sale of Grubhub after its stock has lost more than 60% this year. The company said in a statement it continues to explore the partial or full sale of Grubhub, though there is no certainty any deal will be reached.
Amazon will be able to increase its total stake to 15% of Grubhub, depending on performance of the program.
Amazon Prime has 200 million-plus members who already have grocery discounts at Amazon owned Whole Foods.
Last September Amazon announced a partnership with European delivery company Deliveroo to U.K. members in a similar one-year free offer. Amazon took a stake in Deliveroo in 2019.
News of the deal sent shares of delivery platforms down. Uber’s stock fell more than 3%, and shares of DoorDash plunged as much as 8%.
