Seamless, GrubHub Reach Agreement With New York AG for Merger

Seamless, GrubHub Reach Agreement With New York AG for Merger

The merger of online food delivery giants Seamless and GrubHub is moving along.

The companies, which announced plans to combine forces in May, have agreed to eliminate any exclusive agreements with Manhattan restaurants, addressing concerns from the New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that the merger would undermine competition in the food ordering business. The agreement also prohibits Seamless/GrubHub from entering into any exclusive contracts with Manhattan-based restaurants, or an exclusive business relationship with Yelp, for 18 months.

The AG's investigation into the proposed merger revealed that Seamless had struck a "large number" of exclusive agreements with Manhattan restaurants, preventing those establishments from contracting with competing food ordering platforms. The merger also "raised the possibility that Seamless would aggressively enforce its exclusivity provisions with Manhattan restaurants and use its strong market position to coerce additional restaurants—or key partners, such as Yelp—to do business with it exclusively," the AG said.

[Source]