EU fines Delivery Hero and Glovo €329 million over cartel practices
A major shake-up in Europe’s food delivery sector has emerged as top players face hefty fines for secretive backroom deals that could reshape the industry’s competitive landscape.
The European Commission has imposed a €329 million fine on Berlin-based Delivery Hero and its Spanish subsidiary, Glovo, for participating in what it described as a cartel in the online food delivery market. According to the Commission, the two companies engaged in illegal practices across Europe between 2018 and 2022, including market sharing, exchanging commercially sensitive information, and entering into a ‘no-poach’ agreement to avoid hiring each other’s employees.
This is the first time the Commission has penalised companies for a no-poach deal, which the EU competition chief, Teresa Ribera, said harmed workers’ job mobility in the digital economy. The anti-competitive behaviour reportedly began in mid-2018 when Delivery Hero took a minority stake in Glovo and persisted in various forms until 2022, when it gained full ownership of the Spanish firm.
Delivery Hero was hit with a €223 million fine, while Glovo received a €106 million penalty. Both companies admitted to their roles in the misconduct and agreed to a settlement. The case emerged not from company complaints but through whistleblowers and the Commission’s own monitoring.
Delivery Hero stated it had fully cooperated with the investigation and noted the final fine was 20% lower than initially expected, due to Brussels’s acknowledgement of a lower intensity of misconduct during some periods. The firm expressed hope that the settlement would allow all involved to move forward.
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