KUALA LUMPUR – Embattled food delivery platform Foodpanda has been conducting a series of lay-offs in its markets in Southeast Asia after 11 years in the business, jeopardising the future of its employees and riders going into the new year.
The situation is expected to exacerbate after China-based food delivery giant Meituan confirmed by the end of November that it had no interest in acquiring Foodpanda’s business in Southeast Asia.
Previously, Foodpanda was expecting a shot in the arm when 13-year-old Meituan reportedly met its Berlin-based parent company Delivery Hero to explore a potential acquisition as a bid to move beyond its domestic market.
However, Meituan and Delivery Hero did not acknowledge the initial meeting.
In addition, Delivery Hero announced earlier this week that it would close its Istanbul and Taipei tech hubs and slash manpower in Berlin and other international locations as part of its plans to boost efficiency “without compromising on potential for long-term growth”.
According to a report by Tech in Asia, chief executive officer Niklas Östberg said in an internal email that the company would support those affected by the lay-offs with severance packages, counselling and mobility assistance.
In October, it was reported that Foodpanda had a Malaysian market share of 84.87% in 2018, 44.23% in 2019, 69.42% in 2020 and 76.14% in 2021.
On September 22 this year, Singapore’s The Business Times reported that Foodpanda was laying off an unspecified number of employees in Asia Pacific as it sets its priority on becoming “leaner, more efficient and even more agile”.
In a leaked letter to employees, Foodpanda APAC CEO Jakob Sebastian Angele said this was to streamline operations so the company could take on a more structured approach for “the coming days”.
“While we already implemented some measures earlier this year, there is more we have to do to create the right set-up for our operations.”
He added that it included reviewing organisational structures across regional and country teams as well as restructuring reporting lines.
This was not the first time Foodpanda made headlines for taking drastic measures as the company made staff cuts across Southeast Asia in September 2022 to improve its profitability, followed by another round of lay-offs in February 2023.
The company reportedly said only directly employed employees, and not its riders, were affected by the move.
To date, the total number of staffers affected by the company’s several lay-offs has not been disclosed.
Around the same time as its latest lay-offs in September, it was reported that Delivery Hero was in negotiations with several parties regarding a possible sale of its Foodpanda operations in Southeast Asian markets in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. – December 21, 2023