Gyeonggi Province Requests Fair Trade Commission for Strict Review of 'Baemin + Yogiyo·Baedaltong' Merger

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has requested the Fair Trade Commission to conduct a strict review of the merger between Baedal Minjok and Yogiyo·Baedaltong.

On the 24th, Gyeonggi Province announced that on the 23rd, it requested the Fair Trade Commission to rigorously examine the corporate merger between 'Woowa Brothers' (Baedal Minjok), the number one delivery app operator, and 'Delivery Hero' (Yogiyo·Baedaltong), the second and third largest operators.

Earlier, the two companies submitted a merger notification to the Fair Trade Commission on December 30 of last year, and the approval review is currently underway.

The province also proposed that the Fair Trade Commission investigate whether Woowa Brothers' aggressive use of order-inducing discount coupons and partnership discount coupons with up to 50 affiliated brands violates any laws.

This request is based on the 'Business Agreement for the Realization of a Fair Economic Order' signed between Gyeonggi Province and the Fair Trade Commission in October last year.

At that time, the province and the Fair Trade Commission promised to cooperate on bid rigging and protection of small and medium-sized merchants, establishing a cooperative system for remedying unfair practices, and conducting joint investigations to understand the actual situation.

According to the province, as of 2018, Woowa Brothers holds 55.7%, Yogiyo 33.5%, and Baedaltong 10.4% of the delivery order brokerage platform market share, respectively.

Although new entrants have appeared since 2019, their market share is insignificant. The province argues that if the merger is approved, the acquiring company 'Delivery Hero' will hold about 99% of the domestic delivery order brokerage app market share, raising concerns about market monopolization.

Earlier, following Justice Party lawmaker Chu Hye-sun in December last year, on the 7th of this month, Democratic Party lawmaker Roh Woong-rae also urged the Fair Trade Commission to conduct a strict review of the merger.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business also called for a detailed investigation during the merger review process in a statement on December 3 regarding Woowa Brothers' commission policy reform.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung criticized the change in Baedal Minjok's commission charging method on the 4th and announced plans to develop a public delivery app on the 5th, taking independent measures at the local government level.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.