Uber in talks to buy food delivery app Postmates

Uber is in talks to buy food delivery app Postmates in a multibillion dollar deal, US media reported.

The San Francisco-based company has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic — last month cutting a quarter of its global workforce — and has been looking to boost its growing food delivery service Uber Eats.

Talks for a $2.6 billion deal with start-up Postmates are ongoing, sources told the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, but stressed that nothing was confirmed.

The deal would bolster Uber and help Postmates, a nine-year-old firm that has struggled against larger food delivery rivals, the New York Times noted on Monday.

A $6 billion Uber offer made last month to acquire Grubhub — another US food delivery app — fell through. Grubhub was later bought by European competitor Just Eat Takeaway.

Uber said in its quarterly update earlier this year that it lost nearly $3 billion and its rides business was down some 80 percent in April.

The rideshare giant noted, however, that it was seeing strong revenue growth for its Eats food delivery operation.

Neither Uber nor Postmates have commented on the potential deal.