A Quick Look at the Life of Jitse Groen
Biography Summary
Jitse Groen is a Dutch entrepreneur who founded the online food-ordering business that began as Thuisbezorgd.nl, became Takeaway.com, and later formed the core of Just Eat Takeaway.com. He led the company from its early years through international expansion, a public listing, major European consolidation deals, and a move into the United States through Grubhub.
The same long tenure also included difficult reversals. The Grubhub expansion was later unwound, shareholders pressed for strategic changes, and Just Eat Takeaway.com eventually agreed to be acquired by Prosus. Groen stepped down as chief executive effective January 1, 2026, after roughly 25 years leading the business.
Profile
Full Name: Jitse Groen
Born: 1978
Nationality: Dutch
Education: Studied Business & IT / Business Information Technology at the University of Twente
Best Known For: Founding Thuisbezorgd.nl and building the business that became Takeaway.com and later Just Eat Takeaway.com
Major Role: Founder and longtime chief executive of Takeaway.com / Just Eat Takeaway.com
Major Honor: Van den Kroonenberg Oeuvre (Lifetime Achievement) Award, University of Twente / University Fund Twente, 2026
From University Studies to Online Food Ordering
Groen studied Business & IT, also described as Business Information Technology, at the University of Twente. During his studies, he also launched a web-development business.
According to Groen’s own account, the idea for an online food-ordering service emerged after he had difficulty arranging food delivery for a family gathering. The domain thuisbezorgd.nl was registered in October 1999, while the company’s formal history and later IPO prospectus use 2000 for the start of operations.
The business was not an instant success. Groen later described the first years as difficult: dial-up internet made online ordering inconvenient, and the service had to build both restaurant participation and customer demand.
Looking back in a 2020 interview, he said that “it took us seven years to become something that was similar to a successful company.” Broadband adoption beginning around 2003 helped create more favorable conditions for online food ordering.
Slow Growth Turns Into International Expansion
By 2007, the platform connected restaurants and consumers in more than 40 Dutch cities. That year, the business also expanded into Belgium and Germany. Austria followed in 2008, and the United Kingdom in 2011.
The company increasingly used Takeaway.com as its international identity, with its corporate history dating that rebranding to 2011. In 2012, the company recorded its first external fundraising after years in which operations had largely financed the business.
A major German step came in 2014 when Takeaway.com acquired Yourdelivery, including the Lieferando brand. The deal strengthened the company’s German position and became part of a broader pattern: rather than relying only on entering new markets, Takeaway.com increasingly used acquisitions to consolidate important positions.
Going Public and Consolidating Germany
Takeaway.com listed on Euronext Amsterdam in September 2016. The listing marked a shift from a privately built regional platform toward a publicly financed consolidator.
That strategy was especially visible in Germany. In December 2018, Takeaway.com agreed to acquire Delivery Hero’s German food-delivery businesses, including Lieferheld, Pizza.de, and foodora, in a transaction valued at approximately €930 million in cash and shares.
The acquisition was completed on April 1, 2019. It significantly expanded Takeaway.com’s German position and reinforced consolidation as one of the defining features of Groen’s later leadership.
Winning Just Eat and Creating a Larger European Group
Later in 2019, Takeaway.com entered a contest with Prosus for control of the UK-based Just Eat. Takeaway.com ultimately prevailed with an all-share offer.
The combination became effective on January 31, 2020. Just Eat Takeaway.com’s financial reporting described Takeaway.com as acquiring Just Eat for total consideration of approximately €7.4 billion, while the transaction was also widely described as a merger. The combined group became Just Eat Takeaway.com.
Its 2020 results reported strong revenue growth during the pandemic period while also describing COVID-19 as producing both tailwinds and operational challenges.
The Grubhub Expansion Into the United States
Only months after the Just Eat combination, the group announced another major transaction. In June 2020, Just Eat Takeaway.com and Grubhub agreed to an all-share combination that gave Grubhub an implied equity value of about $7.3 billion at announcement.
Groen presented the deal as a combination of businesses that, in his view, shared a focus on profitable growth and strong market positions. The acquisition was completed on June 15, 2021, giving Just Eat Takeaway.com a major presence in the United States.
Groen also engaged publicly with competitors. In 2021, after Uber announced plans to expand Uber Eats in Germany, he publicly accused Uber of trying to depress Just Eat Takeaway.com’s share price and exchanged critical messages with Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi. His use of Twitter in competitive disputes later drew criticism from investors and communications professionals.
Shareholder Pressure and a Strategic Reversal
By April 2022, Groen said Just Eat Takeaway.com was exploring a possible full or partial sale of Grubhub and was speaking with potential buyers. The company was also facing shareholder pressure, including a campaign by activist investor Cat Rock calling for strategic and governance changes and a sale of Grubhub.
Another reversal came in the company’s courier model. Just Eat Takeaway.com had previously emphasized an employed-worker approach in parts of its business. In March 2023, the company announced that it would end that model in the United Kingdom, cut roughly 1,700 courier jobs, and shift those deliveries toward self-employed workers.
Financially, the post-pandemic period brought a difficult combination of large accounting losses and improving adjusted operating performance. Results for 2023 showed a €1.85 billion net loss, compared with €5.7 billion the year before, while adjusted EBITDA increased to €324 million from €19 million.
Groen acknowledged that the group had become too large for the level of business in some countries and described the cost reductions as painful. The next year brought further improvement in adjusted EBITDA, which reached €460 million for 2024, but that improvement did not mean the company had returned to net profitability.
Selling Grubhub
In November 2024, Just Eat Takeaway.com agreed to sell Grubhub to Wonder for an enterprise value of $650 million. The figure was far below the transaction valuation associated with the 2020 acquisition agreement.
The two numbers are not directly comparable as a simple cash loss: the 2020 figure was an implied equity value for an all-share transaction, while the 2024 figure was enterprise value. Even with that distinction, the sale marked a clear reversal of the group’s U.S. expansion.
For Groen’s biography, the Grubhub arc stands out because it joined several major elements of his later tenure: U.S. expansion, shareholder criticism, a change in strategic direction, and a sale at a much lower transaction valuation than the one associated with the original deal.
Prosus Takes Control
In February 2025, Prosus agreed to acquire Just Eat Takeaway.com for approximately €4.1 billion in cash. Groen supported the offer as providing value to shareholders.
The deal also brought an unusual piece of business history full circle. Prosus had lost the 2019 bidding contest for Just Eat, but years later it returned to acquire the combined Just Eat Takeaway.com group.
Prosus declared its tender offer unconditional in October 2025 after securing more than 90% of the shares tendered. Final results later showed control above 98%, and Just Eat Takeaway.com was delisted from Euronext Amsterdam in November 2025.
Leaving Just Eat Takeaway.com
On December 2, 2025, Just Eat Takeaway.com announced that Groen would step down as chief executive, with his departure effective January 1, 2026.
The company described the transition as the end of a leadership period lasting roughly 25 years. Groen said, “I am immensely proud of what our team has built,” and thanked the people who had been part of the company’s journey.
His departure closed the founder-led chapter that began with Thuisbezorgd.nl around the turn of the century and continued through Takeaway.com’s public listing, the Just Eat combination, Grubhub, and the sale to Prosus.
After the CEO Role
In 2026, Groen appeared publicly at the University of Twente. On August 31, the university and University Fund Twente honored him with one of the inaugural Van den Kroonenberg Oeuvre, or Lifetime Achievement, Awards, recognizing alumni who played defining roles in internationally significant technology companies.
University coverage from the opening of the academic year also showed him directing attention toward the next generation of Dutch entrepreneurs.
A Founder-Led Career With Both Scale and Reversal
Groen’s career is closely tied to the evolution of one company over roughly a quarter century. He founded a Dutch food-ordering site, stayed with it through years of slow growth, expanded it across borders, took it public, and used acquisitions to build one of Europe’s major food-delivery groups.
The later record is more complicated. The Grubhub expansion was reversed, shareholder criticism became a significant part of the company’s story, and the listed group eventually returned to private ownership under Prosus.
His biography is therefore neither a simple startup success story nor one defined only by the Grubhub setback. The same founder-led tenure included slow early growth, European consolidation, an IPO, major acquisitions, a costly strategic reversal, and finally the sale of the group to Prosus. When Groen left in 2026, the company he had founded was under new ownership after roughly 25 years of his leadership.
Timeline
The timeline below highlights major milestones in Jitse Groen’s career and the development of the business he founded.
1978
Jitse Groen is born.
1999–2000
The thuisbezorgd.nl domain is registered in October 1999. Company records use 2000 for the operational launch of Thuisbezorgd.nl.
Circa 2003
Broadband adoption begins to improve the conditions for online food ordering and Takeaway.com’s growth.
2007–2011
The platform expands into Belgium and Germany in 2007, Austria in 2008, and the United Kingdom in 2011. The company also adopts Takeaway.com as its international identity.
2012
The company records its first external fundraising.
2014
Takeaway.com acquires Yourdelivery, including the Lieferando brand, strengthening its position in Germany.
September 2016
Takeaway.com lists on Euronext Amsterdam.
December 2018–April 2019
Takeaway.com agrees to acquire Delivery Hero’s German operations for approximately €930 million and completes the transaction on April 1, 2019.
January 31, 2020
The combination with Just Eat becomes effective, creating the group known as Just Eat Takeaway.com.
June 2020–June 2021
The Grubhub transaction is announced at about $7.3 billion in implied equity value and is completed on June 15, 2021.
2022
Just Eat Takeaway.com begins exploring a possible sale of Grubhub as shareholder pressure over strategy increases.
2023–2024
The company cuts costs, changes its UK courier model, and improves adjusted EBITDA while still reporting large accounting losses.
November 13, 2024
Just Eat Takeaway.com agrees to sell Grubhub to Wonder for an enterprise value of $650 million.
2025
Prosus agrees to acquire Just Eat Takeaway.com for approximately €4.1 billion, secures control, and the company is delisted from Euronext Amsterdam in November.
January 1, 2026
Groen’s departure as chief executive becomes effective.
August 31, 2026
The University of Twente and University Fund Twente honor Groen with a Van den Kroonenberg Oeuvre (Lifetime Achievement) Award.
Interviews
Jitse Groen on Building and Scaling Takeaway.com
SparkOptimus published a long-form conversation with Groen in 2021. It focuses on marketplace scaling, competitive positioning, leadership, and international expansion, making it a useful companion for readers interested in how he described the company’s growth from the inside.
Goldman Sachs Talks With Jitse Groen
This 2020 interview gives firsthand context on the difficult startup period, the years before the business felt established, and the persistence required to keep building. It is especially useful for understanding why Takeaway.com’s early history differs from a typical overnight-success story.
McKinsey Conversation on Everyday Convenience
McKinsey’s 2025 interview looks at the later stage of Groen’s tenure and the evolution of Just Eat Takeaway.com. It also discusses the company’s broader move beyond restaurant meals into everyday convenience.
Sources
- Euronext / Takeaway.com: 2016 IPO Prospectus, Takeaway.com IPO listing
- Emerce: Early record of the thuisbezorgd.nl domain chronology
- Just Eat Takeaway.com: Our Story, German Delivery Hero businesses acquisition, Full Year 2020 Results, Grubhub acquisition completion, Final results of Prosus offer, Leadership transition announcement
- EQS News / Takeaway.com and Lieferando: 2014 Lieferando/Yourdelivery transaction
- Delivery Hero: Sale of German operations to Takeaway.com
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Grubhub transaction announcement, June 2020 transaction call transcript
- Goldman Sachs: Goldman Sachs Talks: Jitse Groen
- nlgroeit: De groeiformule van Jitse Groen
- Reuters: Uber Eats Germany dispute, Potential Grubhub sale talks, Shareholder backlash over dealmaking, Grubhub sale, 2024 core profit and Prosus deal
- The Guardian: Criticism after Just Eat Twitter dispute
- Sky News: UK courier model and job cuts
- Financial Times: 2023 results and cost reductions, Prosus acquisition agreement, Groen departure
- Associated Press: Grubhub sale to Wonder
- McKinsey & Company: Empowering everyday convenience
- Naspers / Prosus: Prosus tender offer completion
- University of Twente: 2026 academic-year opening and lifetime-achievement award
- U-Today: Thinking outside the box is entrepreneurship too