Jim Armitage: Don’t be so sure a takeaway deal is set to be delivered

When it comes to getting a katsu curry to your front door, Deliveroo is superfast. But in their eagerness for a deal, advisers and investors at Uber Eats should display a little less haste before confidently predicting a deal.

While there’s no doubt the Silicon Valley giant would like to buy Deliveroo to get a leg up in its markets (Uber Eats has failed to gain traction in the UK), it’s unlikely the purported target’s founder, William Shu, will want to sell.

For starters, there’s the human factor. Shu is a larger-than-life entrepreneur with a big profile and an immense pride in the business he’s built. He’s more keen to float this business and keep his name above the door than sell it and lose control.

For mains, why sell now, when the company’s growth plan is still in its early stages? Shu is convinced there is massive future expansion to come.

For dessert, almost a year ago to the day, Deliveroo raised $385 million from investors. It would seem strange to sell the business so soon after. Investors in that round, such as Fidelity and T Rowe Price, seem unlikely sellers.

Of course, there’s always a chance Uber tables such a big offer that Shu and his backers can’t resist. The flipside of having a new investor base is that they may prove dispassionate. As one Deliveroo investor put it: “Everyone has their price.”

But the price here will have to be so huge, one suspects Uber’s investors would find it indigestible. Especially when this is a market where Amazon could so easily sweep in and wipe everybody out.

In a decade, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat and GrubHub could be distant memories; either eaten by Amazon like LoveFilm or as bust as Blockbuster and Toys R Us.