Just Eat Takeaway.com

Corporate autophagy at scale. On 6 January 2025, Just Eat Takeaway completed the sale of Grubhub to Wonder for $650 million—a 92% reduction from the $7.3 billion paid in 2020. This wasn't divestiture; it was survival through self-digestion. When organisms face starvation, they consume their own cellular components to generate energy. Just Eat consumed Grubhub.

The 2024 results reveal the metabolic logic. Group GTV declined 2% to €26.3 billion, but adjusted EBITDA surged 36% to €460 million. Revenue held at €5.1 billion despite shedding North American operations. The company wrote off €1 billion in Grubhub impairments—acknowledging tissue that had turned necrotic. Free cash flow flipped from negative €52 million to positive €104 million. This is what autophagy delivers: reduced mass, improved efficiency, concentrated resources in viable organs.

Post-amputation, 85% of GTV now flows from Europe and UK/Ireland—markets where Just Eat holds competitive position. The company guided 2025 GTV growth at 4-8%, adjusted EBITDA at €360-380 million. But the story isn't finished. On 29 July 2025, Prosus extended its takeover offer deadline, circling the weakened organism. Just Eat exemplifies competitive exclusion: in markets with powerful network effects, second-tier players face a binary choice—dominate your niche or get absorbed by larger ecosystems.

The Grubhub acquisition was strategic overreach, attempting to compete in a market where Uber Eats and DoorDash had already established preferential attachment. Every new restaurant and customer gravitates to the platform with most liquidity. Just Eat couldn't overcome the entrenchment. Selling Grubhub was cellular pruning—cutting off the gangrenous limb before sepsis spreads. The question is whether the organism that remains has sufficient metabolic capacity to resist acquisition, or if Prosus represents the next stage in resource reallocation.