Amazon and Deliveroo in OCG
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Anticipated acquisition by Amazon of a minority shareholding and certain rights in Deliveroo Final report 4 August 2020 © Crown copyright 2020 You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government- licence/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected]. Website: www.gov.uk/cma Members of the Competition and Markets Authority who conducted this inquiry Stuart McIntosh (Chair of the Group) Humphrey Battcock Paul Hughes Claire Whyley Chief Executive of the Competition and Markets Authority Andrea Coscelli The Competition and Markets Authority has excluded from this published version of the final report information which the inquiry group considers should be excluded having regard to the three considerations set out in section 244 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (specified information: considerations relevant to disclosure). The omissions are indicated by []. Some numbers have been replaced by a range. These are shown in square brackets. Non-sensitive wording is also indicated in square brackets. Contents Page Summary .................................................................................................................... 4 Findings .................................................................................................................... 28 1. The reference ..................................................................................................... 28 2. Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak ...................................................................... 29 Effect of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on the UK economy ................. 29 Effect of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on the restaurant sector ........... 30 Effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in March 2020 .......................................... 30 Effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) from mid-April 2020 ................................. 31 Effect of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on grocery sector ..................... 32 Longer-term effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) .................................................. 33 3. The Parties, the Transaction and the rationale ................................................... 33 The Parties ......................................................................................................... 33 Amazon ......................................................................................................... 33 Deliveroo ....................................................................................................... 37 The Transaction .................................................................................................. 40 The rationale ....................................................................................................... 41 Amazon’s rationale ........................................................................................ 41 Deliveroo’s rationale ...................................................................................... 43 4. Jurisdiction .......................................................................................................... 45 Enterprises ceasing to be distinct ....................................................................... 46 Arrangements are in progress or in contemplation ........................................ 46 Enterprises .................................................................................................... 46 Ceasing to be distinct .................................................................................... 47 Influence through Amazon’s shareholding in Deliveroo ................................. 49 Influence through Amazon’s right to representation on Deliveroo’s board ..... 57 Other sources of influence ............................................................................. 60 Overall assessment of material influence ........................................................... 62 Conclusion on relevant merger situation ............................................................. 64 5. Market definition .................................................................................................. 64 Approach ............................................................................................................ 64 Online restaurant platforms ................................................................................. 65 Introduction and overview .............................................................................. 65 Restaurant platform models........................................................................... 66 Product market definition ............................................................................... 67 Geographic market definition ......................................................................... 85 Online convenience groceries ............................................................................. 89 Introduction and overview .............................................................................. 89 Product market definition ............................................................................... 91 Geographic market definition ....................................................................... 108 6. Counterfactual................................................................................................... 111 Legal framework ............................................................................................... 111 Counterfactual for online convenience groceries ......................................... 112 Deliveroo counterfactual ................................................................................... 113 Overview of exiting firm counterfactual ........................................................ 113 Summary of April Provisional Findings analysis .......................................... 113 Initial impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Deliveroo ............................... 114 Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the April Provisional Findings counterfactual ............................................................................................. 115 1 Developments since the April Provisional Findings ..................................... 117 Impact of developments on Deliveroo ......................................................... 118 Parties’ submissions .................................................................................... 120 Third party submissions ............................................................................... 122 CMA assessment of the Deliveroo counterfactual ....................................... 123 Limb 1: Would Deliveroo have exited absent the Transaction? ................... 123 Conclusion on the application of ‘Limb 1’ of the exiting firm analysis .......... 129 Limb 2: Is there a substantially less anti-competitive investor or purchaser for Deliveroo’s assets? .................................................................................... 129 Amazon counterfactual ..................................................................................... 131 Parties’ submissions .................................................................................... 133 CMA assessment: Amazon’s incentives and intention to re-enter ............... 134 CMA assessment: Amazon’s ability to re-enter ........................................... 157 Conclusion on re-entry by Amazon counterfactual ...................................... 168 7. Supply of online restaurants platforms in the UK .............................................. 168 Framework ........................................................................................................ 169 Parties’ submissions ......................................................................................... 170 Would Amazon re-enter? .................................................................................. 171 Theories of harm ............................................................................................... 172 Impact of the Transaction on whether Amazon would re-enter ................... 175 Impact of the Transaction on the nature of Amazon’s entry ........................ 183 Impact of Amazon’s re-entry ............................................................................. 187 Conclusion on supply of online restaurant platforms in the UK ......................... 189 8. Supply of online convenience grocery services in the UK ................................. 190 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 190 Background ....................................................................................................... 191 The groceries industry ................................................................................. 191 How OCG services are supplied .................................................................. 194 Closeness of competition .................................................................................. 198 The Parties’ current OCG businesses ......................................................... 198 Substitutability of the Parties’ OCG propositions ......................................... 203 The Parties’ ambitions in groceries .............................................................