Speculation becomes certainty. The German delivery service for gorillas is taken over. According to the rumored sum, the company has lost around half of its value within a year. According to experts, high costs and stagnant business could further upset the market.
Rising costs and a sluggish business drive fast delivery service Gorillas into the arms of larger rival Getir. The Turkish company announced the takeover of the German company. The deal is worth $1.2 billion, the Financial Times reported, citing insiders. A Getir spokesman confirmed that. There had been speculation about the merger for weeks. Getir employs over 32,000 people and is active in nine countries. According to the company, around 14,000 people work for gorillas.
When it was taken over, the German delivery service was valued just under half as much as it was a year ago, the newspaper wrote. At Getir, the valuation declined by 25 percent to currently $8.8 billion. In a financing round last March, this figure was $12 billion. According to the report, some Gorillas shareholders, such as the food delivery company Delivery Hero or the Chinese internet group Tencent, will receive a total of around $40 million in cash and otherwise Getir shares.
For Kai Hesselmann, co-founder of DealCircle, a database for company takeovers, the step is necessary. The market is hotly contested. "That can only work if there is a consolidation of one or two players. Otherwise the models cannot pay off." Uwe Horstmann, co-founder of the venture capitalist Project A, is skeptical about the business of delivering goods within a few minutes. "'Quick-Commerce' has so far failed to prove that the market works."
German gorillas rival Flink pointed out that the company is still growing despite the closure of some locations. In addition, even after the merger of Gorillas and Getir, you are ahead in terms of order volume and sales. Grocery delivery services have boomed during the pandemic. Getir and Goriallas mainly deliver groceries and everyday necessities. This distinguishes them from services like Lieferando, which deliver ready-made meals.
As a result, gorillas achieved so-called unicorn status within a few months. Stock marketers use this to describe startups that are valued at more than one billion euros. However, there is fierce cut-throat competition in the industry. In addition, companies are having trouble with rising prices and high personnel costs. Gorillas therefore cut hundreds of jobs a few months ago and withdrew from some countries. DoorDash, the mother of rival Volt, also announced job cuts a few days ago.
