Domino's questions CMA's go-ahead of Amazon-Deliveroo deal

The pizza chain said it remained unconvinced with the CMA’s reasons.

Domino’s Pizza has questioned the competition watchdog’s provisional findings to approve Amazon’s multi-million-pound investment in Deliveroo.

In a 33-page submission to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the pizza chain said it had “serious concerns” at officials allowing the online retailer to enter the takeaway business.

The CMA’s logic on provisionally approving the deal because Deliveroo would collapse without the funding from Amazon, Domino’s said, was flawed, questioning why the cash could not be raised elsewhere.

CMA initially raised concerns that the US$500 million (£400 million) investment round could damage competition in the UK after it emerged that Amazon was the majority investor.

Last month, the watchdog provisionally allowed Amazon’s investment to go ahead because Deliveroo had warned it would collapse due to COVID-19 shutting restaurants and hitting its business.

Domino’s, which is not on platform apps, said it remained unconvinced with the watchdog’s reasons.

“If the PFs (provisional findings) were to become final the CMA would, in Domino’s view, have failed in its statutory duty to protect competition and consumers in the UK,” the chain said.

It added: “By taking a short-term view unduly influenced by COVID-19 and without proper interrogation of the counterfactual, the CMA provisionally intends to permit Amazon to extend its ecosystem dominance into food delivery, quite apart from foreclosing its own incentives to enter Deliveroo’s market.”