European Commission Hits Fair Competition Milestone with Enforcements Against Delivery Companies

BRUSSELS - On June 2, 2025, the European Commission fined for the first time two major delivery companies - Delivery Hero and Glovo - hundreds of millions of euros for no-poach agreements and other anticompetitive practices that include exchange of information and market sharing. In another groundbreaking move, the Commission found that Delivery Hero's minority shareholding in Glovo facilitated these illegal practices because the shareholders' agreement included reciprocal no-hire clauses and made it easier for the companies to exchange sensitive information. 

Open Markets Institute Europe and Transatlantic Partnerships Director Max von Thun released the following statement on these historic actions for EU competition enforcement: 

“The Open Markets Institute has long highlighted the critical role of competition enforcement in protecting workers from exploitative and abusive employment practices, including by leading the campaign for a total ban of non-compete clauses in the United States.  

Today’s landmark decision by the European Commission represents an important milestone in the evolution of EU competition enforcement. It shows that the Commission is finally moving beyond its narrowly consumer-focused approach by investigating how concentrated corporate power harms other important stakeholders, including workers.  

The decision also illustrates the Commission’s growing understanding of how minority ownership – and not just outright control – can facilitate anti-competitive coordination between market competitors, an important insight that it should apply more broadly, including to partnerships between tech giants and startups in the AI sector.”