Delistings from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) are routinely described as a “blow”, but some hits are painless. The departure of Just Eat Takeaway is one. The delivery firm’s life in London will mainly be remembered for a horribly timed and hubristic acquisition that impoverished the poor old shareholders.
The only charitable spin to put on the $7.3bn (£5.8bn) purchase of Grubhub, a US business, in 2021 is that Just Eat’s directors, led by Jitse Groen, the chief executive, must have been suffering a collective case of lockdown fever. Swayed by the boom in demand for takeaways during the Covid pandemic, they grabbed Grubhub at a takeover premium of 40%, even though no easy cost savings were available. Last week. Grubhub was sold for a mere $650m.
