NEW YORK — European food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway.com is selling Grubhub for $650 million, a fraction of the billions it spent to buy the U.S. platform just three years ago.

Under terms of the deal, announced Wednesday, Wonder Group, a New York-based food ordering company, will acquire Grubhub for $150 million in cash and $500 million in senior notes.

Back in 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and a surge in demand for takeout meals, Just Eat agreed to buy Grubhub for $7.3 billion in a transaction finalized in 2021.

Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com acknowledged Wednesday that selling Grubhub to Wonder would increase growth, cash generation and support investment in countries where it “has the greatest competitive advantage.” The company currently operates in 18 countries beyond the U.S.

The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions. Shares of the company were up over 15% by midday Wednesday.

Grubhub, headquartered in Chicago, operates in more than 4,000 U.S. cities. According to Just Eat, the platform generated 237 million orders with a gross transaction value of about $8.53 million last year.

As of March 2024, numbers from data analytics firm Bloomberg Second Measure showed that Grubhub made up only 8% of meal delivery consumer spending in the U.S. — far less than DoorDash or Uber Eats. DoorDash is currently winning the “food delivery war,” per Second Measure, making up 67% of these sales, followed by Uber Eats’ 23%.