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Prosus Secures EU Antitrust Approval for Just Eat Takeaway Bid

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Dutch tech investor Prosus has received conditional approval from the European Union for its €4.1 billion ($4.76 billion) acquisition of Just Eat Takeaway, after agreeing to reduce its significant stake in rival Delivery Hero.

The European Commission confirmed that Naspers, Prosus’ majority owner, will lower its 27.4% holding in Delivery Hero to below a minimal threshold within 12 months. Naspers also committed not to exercise voting rights, increase its stake, or influence the management and supervisory boards of Delivery Hero.

Prosus announced the takeover plan in February, aiming to leverage its artificial intelligence expertise to strengthen Just Eat Takeaway, Europe’s largest meal delivery platform. With the EU clearance, this marks the final regulatory approval required for the deal, which is set to close by October 1, provided all offer conditions are met.

Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi described the acquisition as a step toward building a “true European tech champion” in the food delivery sector. EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera emphasized that the ruling safeguards competition and consumer choice, warning that the Commission will continue to take a hard line against anti-competitive practices.

The approval comes months after Delivery Hero and its subsidiary Glovo were fined €329 million for cartel activities, including market division and non-poaching agreements. Once completed, the deal will make Prosus the fourth-largest global food delivery company, behind Meituan, DoorDash, and Uber, according to ING analysts.

Meta Unlikely to Further Change Pay-or-Consent Model, Faces Imminent EU Fines: Sources

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Meta Platforms is expected to maintain its current pay-or-consent model without further adjustments, making it nearly certain to face new antitrust charges and significant daily fines from the European Union, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

The European Commission recently warned Meta that limited tweaks to the model would not satisfy the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to limit Big Tech’s market power through strict regulations. Meta was already fined €200 million ($234 million) in April for breaching the DMA with its pay-or-consent approach from November 2023 to November 2024.

Although Meta modified the model in November 2024 to reduce the use of personal data for targeted ads, the EU remains unsatisfied. Sources indicated that unless circumstances change, Meta will not propose further revisions, prompting expected new charges and daily fines that could reach up to 5% of the company’s average daily global revenue, starting from June 27. The final decision on fines has yet to be finalized.

Following the Reuters report, Meta’s shares dropped 1.7% mid-session. Meta declined to comment on the latest developments but reiterated previous statements asserting its compliance with the DMA, highlighting the broad choices offered to European users and accusing the Commission of unfairly targeting its business model.

Google Proposes New Search Changes to Avoid EU Antitrust Fine

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Google has submitted a new proposal aimed at addressing complaints from rivals and avoiding a possible European Union antitrust fine, Reuters has learned from a confidential document. This comes ahead of a critical July 7-8 meeting in Brussels with the European Commission and competitors.

The proposal, referred to as “Option B,” offers an alternative to an earlier plan presented last week. It suggests displaying two boxes on Google’s search results page: a vertical search service (VSS) box featuring links to specialized search engines for hotels, airlines, restaurants, and transport, and below it, a separate box listing free links to individual suppliers in those categories. Google would manage the supplier information but the setup aims to avoid the VSS box being dominated by Google’s own services.

This proposal seeks to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which targets large tech companies to prevent unfair self-preferencing and foster competition. Google has already made hundreds of product changes under the DMA framework.

Despite the efforts, Google remains concerned that some DMA requirements could degrade online user experience in Europe. If found in violation of the DMA, Google could face fines up to 10% of its global annual revenue.