Foodpanda confirms APAC layoffs amid talks of partial Asia business sale

Online food and grocery delivery company foodpanda has confirmed that it will be reducing its team size in the APAC region, according to the company when MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out. This comes amidst a potential sale of its Asia business that was announced by foodpanda's owner, Delivery Hero, last week. 

It explained that it was conducting the layoffs because there was a need to "streamline" its operations. "The need to streamline our operations to become leaner and more agile remains critical," a spokesperson at the company said. 

It added that in the coming days and weeks, its focus will remain on supporting impacted colleagues through this "difficult time".

"We are extremely sorry to colleagues who are leaving us and are grateful for their contributions to foodpanda," it said. 

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The news comes shortly after it was revealed that Delivery Hero was discussing a potential sale of its Asia business, according to the company when MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out. The deal is still under negotiations but it was reported that tech platform Grab could pay the equivalent of as much as a billion euros for the unit.

"Delivery Hero confirms negotiations with several parties regarding a potential sale of its foodpanda business in selected Southeast Asia markets," it said. "Any discussions or plans are in their preliminary stages."

According to German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, these markets include Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand.

The news that talks were underway caused shares in foodpanda to lift as much as 13.5% last week, according to Reuters. Delivery Hero, on the other hand, reported that it has achieved a positive adjusted profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin of 0.2% in Q2 2023 after group cost allocation earlier this month. 

This comes shortly after foodpanda partnered with some of Singapore's biggest supermarket chains to expand shopping options on the platform locally.  

As part of the partnership, foodpanda users will now be able to shop for close to 20,000 grocery items combined from Cold Storage, CS Fresh and Giant island-wide, with the same price offered in-store and with delivery within an hour. They will also get to earn yuu Points on foodpanda transactions made across over 20,000 restaurants and merchants in Singapore.

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