Uber Eats in Italy throws in the towel and closes the delivery service

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With a surprise announcement from the headquarters in the Netherlands, Uber in Italy ceases the delivery business with the Uber Eats brand and at the same time abandons the Israeli market where the US multinational has failed to conquer a significant market share. Activities kicked off in Italy in 2016 and the platform progressively developed its services in 60 medium-large cities but without achieving growth «in line with our expectations to guarantee a sustainable business in the long term – as stated in a company note -. Hence the decision to discontinue our food delivery operations in Italy via the Uber Eats app.” Now the focus is on mobility services «where we are recording significant growth. Indeed, thanks to the Uber Black service and the agreement with It Taxi, we are currently present in 10 Italian cities: in the last 12 months, over one million Italians and tourists have used the Uber app to move around the cities where we operate and almost 10,000 drivers, between NCC and taxis, have had the opportunity to make at least one ride through our app». The “Taxi in Sardinia” service has been active in Cagliari and Olbia since last week, but the multinational expects to land in four other cities by the end of the year. In the recent past, it was 2020, the branch was commissioned by the Court of Milan on charges of illegal hiring of riders through some intermediary companies. The commissioner was revoked in 2021 by the judges after the recognition of a virtuous path undertaken by the company to restore legality and protect riders’ wages.