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[Why Korea 20] What Does It Really Mean to Buy Baedal Minjok?

Aerial night view of Seoul with a delivery network map overlaid, showing riders, restaurants, and homes connected by glowing lines
Honestly, I have a confession: the last piece was basically an excuse to write this one.

While digging into what "Baedal Minjok" actually meant, I stumbled onto something I never expected — this company had already changed hands once before. And the app we all open without thinking, it turns out, has been quietly trading for trillions of won.

I had no idea, until then, about Baemin's acquisition history. And I was honestly stunned that a piece of everyday infrastructure like this could move for that kind of money. So I decided to actually dig into it properly.

This Is Actually the Second Time

As it turns out, this isn't the first time "Baedal Minjok" has ended up under foreign ownership.

In 2019, Woowa Brothers — the company that runs Baemin — was acquired by Germany's Delivery Hero (DH) for roughly 4.75 trillion won (around $3.2 billion). A company famous for its "We are the delivery nation!" patriotic branding wound up, at the very same moment, in the hands of a German company. Founder Kim Bong-jin walked away from the deal with an estimated fortune of around 900 billion won, and went on to lead Woowa DH Asia, a joint venture formed as part of the deal.

Then in 2026, the possibility of another change of ownership emerged. Except this time, the story took a turn nobody saw coming.

In May of this year, DH — under financial pressure — tried to sell off just the Baemin stake (its holding in Woowa Brothers) separately, for around 8 trillion won (roughly $5.4 billion). Naver, Uber, Alibaba, and Meituan were all floated as potential buyers, with binding bids due July 21st.

Then, just days before that deadline, the story flipped in a completely different direction.

Uber — one of the very companies bidding for Baemin — announced it would acquire all of Delivery Hero instead. $14.8 billion, roughly 22 trillion won. The plan to sell off Baemin separately was scrapped entirely — because once DH belongs to Uber, Baemin comes along with it automatically.

There's a real irony buried in here. Uber entered Korea's delivery market back in 2014 with Uber Eats, lost to Baemin and Yogiyo, and pulled out entirely in 2019. The company that failed to win by competing head-on is now, twelve years later, ending up as the owner of this market anyway — by buying the parent company whole.

(Note: this deal hasn't closed yet. It's still working through antitrust review across multiple countries and is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2027.)

Which raises the real question: what exactly is this one app, that a company once valued at 4.7 trillion won is now sitting at the center of a multi-billion-dollar global acquisition battle?

So What Are You Actually Buying?

Buying Baemin isn't buying an app icon or a brand logo.

Start with the numbers. Baemin's monthly active users (MAU) hit roughly 23.75 million in December 2025 — nearly half of Korea's entire population opening this app at least once a month. It remains, by a wide margin, the largest platform in Korea's delivery market.

And last year, Woowa Brothers crossed 5 trillion won in annual revenue for the first time in the company's history (5.283 trillion won, up 22.2% year-over-year). But operating profit actually fell — down 7.5% to 592.9 billion won. The company got bigger, but that growth came with heavier competition and cost pressure.

Here's what's interesting: Baemin isn't dominant on every front. In the rider ecosystem, competing platforms have been growing fast too.

So the question sharpens: profitability isn't perfect, and Baemin doesn't dominate on every metric — and yet it's being treated as a critical strategic asset in a massive global acquisition fight. What's the real weapon here?

Why This Is a Real Weapon

Industry analysis suggests Uber's real motive isn't simply "grab delivery market share."

What Uber is actually building is an "Everyday App" strategy — folding mobility (ride-hailing), food delivery, and quick commerce into a single app. This acquisition roughly doubles the number of countries where Uber offers both mobility and delivery, from 34 to 58. Korea already has Uber in the ride-hailing business through UT (Uber Taxi) — so once Baemin joins, one company would control both "getting around" and "getting fed." What Uber ultimately wants isn't a delivery app on its own — it's one platform that people open, again and again, for how they move, eat, and shop.

It's also worth noting what Uber chose not to do: build its own delivery business from scratch in every country. Instead, it's absorbing the local brands, merchant networks, and rider infrastructure DH has already spent years building. One M&A-focused outlet pointed out that in this deal, the things that don't show up on a balance sheet — merchant networks, consumer data, delivery infrastructure — are actually the core value for the buyer. Years of order history, payment habits, delivery routes: none of that can be built overnight, no matter how much money you throw at it. It's an asset that only accumulates through time and habit.

Which brings us back to something we established last time: Korean delivery habits are already deeply woven into daily life. That's the real clue for understanding this deal. To a global platform company, that kind of habit and network can look like something far more valuable than a delivery service — a strategic asset in its own right.

So, Why Korea?

Honestly, there's something a little strange about watching this enormous ecosystem — built here, in Korea — become an asset that global companies are willing to spend trillions of won to secure.

It feels oddly unfamiliar to think that more than a decade's worth of data and infrastructure — and the countless small business owners and riders woven into it — could now be decided somewhere outside Korea. I'll admit this is more of a personal impression than a fact.

Still, one thing is clear. Korea's delivery habit — just that, on its own — has become the kind of infrastructure and data that global giants are willing to spend trillions of won to acquire.

Last time, I asked what it really means to "buy" Baedal Minjok. I think I have a partial answer now. It was never really about buying an app. It was about buying a habit that an entire country had etched into its daily life.

Curious about Korea?

So am I.

Key Takeaways

  • Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baemin, was acquired by Germany's Delivery Hero (DH) in 2019 for roughly 4.75 trillion won (~$3.2B). In May 2026, DH's plan to sell Baemin separately for about 8 trillion won (~$5.4B) was scrapped after Uber agreed to acquire all of DH for roughly 22 trillion won ($14.8B) — bringing Baemin along as part of the deal (expected to close in H2 2027, pending regulatory review).
  • Baemin's MAU reached 23.75 million (December 2025), nearly half of Korea's population. Revenue crossed 5 trillion won for the first time last year (5.283 trillion won), even as operating profit fell 7.5%.
  • By one measure — rider-app users — competitor Coupang Eats (521,000) actually outnumbers Baemin (373,000), suggesting rider network size alone isn't Baemin's decisive advantage.
  • Uber's acquisition goal isn't simply expanding delivery market share — it's building an "Everyday App" combining mobility, delivery, and quick commerce. Industry analysts point to data and merchant networks — intangible assets — as the real value in the deal.

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