South Korea's antitrust regulator has opened a preliminary review of Uber Technologies' planned acquisition of Delivery Hero, a deal that would hand the ride-hailing giant control of Baemin, the country's leading food delivery app.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission said Tuesday that Uber requested the voluntary review ahead of its formal merger filing, a step designed to gauge whether the transaction risks violating antitrust law before it is finalized.

Under the current timeline, Uber plans to complete its tender offer in November and close the acquisition in the second half of 2027, pending approval from competition authorities. The deal values Delivery Hero, a Berlin-based global delivery group, at $14.8 billion, with the effective acquisition size reaching $13.7 billion after accounting for Uber's existing stake.

Delivery Hero holds an indirect stake in Baemin through its subsidiary Woowa DH Asia. Once completed, the transaction would place the delivery app under Uber's control alongside its existing Uber Taxi service in Korea — a combination that would bring ride-hailing and food delivery under one corporate roof.

It is precisely this overlap that the FTC intends to scrutinize. The regulator will examine whether combining Uber's ride-hailing business with Baemin's delivery platform — through joint memberships, cross-app promotions or integrated merchant advertising — could reshape competition.

The market landscape underscores the regulator's interest. Kakao Mobility, the ride-hailing arm of internet giant Kakao, dominates taxi-hailing in Korea with 13.58 million monthly users as of February, dwarfing Uber's 650,000. In food delivery, Baemin led the market with 23.4 million users in April ahead of Coupang Eats, the delivery arm of e-commerce major Coupang, at 13.15 million.

"We intend to fully assess how this merger affects competition in the taxi-hailing and food delivery markets, rivals' business operations and the options available to users and merchants," the FTC said, pledging a rigorous review under the Fair Trade Act, Korea's core antitrust statute.

Uber, for its part, expressed confidence that the deal will spur innovation and investment while sharpening competition, citing its long-standing dedication to Korea. "We are very pleased to embark on this new journey together with Baemin," the company said, describing it as an iconic and beloved brand in the country.

Uber initially explored pursuing the acquisition through a consortium with Naver, but is now moving forward alone after the internet giant withdrew. The deal also marks a return to Korean food delivery for Uber, whose Uber Eats service exited the market in 2019 after two years of struggling to compete against Baemin. This time, its re-entry comes not by competing against Baemin head-on but by acquiring the company that controls it.

From here, the markers to watch are clear: Uber's formal merger filing, the FTC's competition assessment and the regulatory decision that will determine whether the deal can close in the second half of 2027 as planned.

Source: Korea Herald