Foodpanda replaces CEO after he allegedly leaked details of Grab deal talks

Foodpanda’s former CEO Jakob Angele / Image credit: Foodpanda

Foodpanda, an Asia-focused food and grocery delivery service owned by Delivery Hero, announced that longtime executive John Fang will be its new CEO.

Fang is taking over from Jakob Angele, who has left Foodpanda after over nine years in the company. Angele’s last day was yesterday, October 16. Foodpanda kept mum on the reason behind the surprise move.

However, public Instagram posts by Rebekah Rankine, a person who had dated Angele, alleged that he was forced to leave for leaking details about the ongoing and confidential talks regarding Grab buying Delivery Hero’s Southeast Asian business.

Rankine said she first posted about the talks on September 18, days before the news appeared in business publications.

In later posts, she said that he leaked the information to her, citing screenshots of her WhatsApp conversation with Angele as proof. After the news was leaked, Angele asked her to remove her post on the deal.

Blame game

Angele blamed Rankine for potentially causing him his job, the messages showed. But she says he had told at least two other people outside Foodpanda about the company’s talks with Grab.

She tells Tech in Asia that she has personally overheard one of these conversations, which occurred with someone working at another regional internet giant.

The now ex-CEO had also messaged her saying he told C-level Foodpanda executives about the deal. Angele added that these execs were “disappointed” about the move and “felt like we could have won.”

While buyout talks sometimes leak to the public, executives on both sides want to be as tight-lipped as possible. This is especially true at the early stage of discussions.

Secrecy prevents rumors from distracting employees, who might fear losing their jobs after a merger. It also stops competitors and disgruntled shareholders from sabotaging the deal.

It was widely reported that Grab was a prospective buyer in the deal, which was expected to breach the US$1 billion mark.

Shortly after news of the talks was released, Foodpanda told Tech in Asia that the company laid off a number of its employees in Asia Pacific, citing a need to streamline its operations “to become leaner and more agile.”

Foodpanda declined to comment on the allegations to Tech in Asia. It’s unclear if other reasons, such as Foodpanda’s performance, were behind the resignation. Angele did not respond to repeated messages from us.