The businessman behind Grubhub attempted to buy back the company he sold to Just Eat Takeaway for $7.3bn (£5.8bn) last year after the firm struggled to gain momentum in the States.
As reported by The Sunday Times, Grubhub co-founder Matt Maloney mulled a bid for the US arm, alongside US private equity titan General Atlantic.
Sources told the paper that Maloney, who left the Just Eat board after just four months, has since backtracked on this bid attempt.
The news comes after Just Eat Takeaway revealed in April that it was exploring sale options for Grubhub.
Last month City A.M. reported that brutal market movements in the tech space had wiped $5bn off Grubhub’s valuation.
Just Eat Takeaway has been under increasing pressure from activist investor Cat Rock, which has a 5.1 per cent stake in the company.
Shareholders defied Cat Rock’s requests to vote against the reappointment of chief financial officer Brent Wissink and the supervisory board earlier this month at the company’s AGM.
In a letter to shareholders on 25 April, Alex Captain, Cat Rock founder and managing partner, said the firm’s potential was going to waste due to “poor capital allocation, failed financial management, and lack of credibility with capital markets.”
The investor has also been sceptical of the company’s acquisition of its US arm Grubhub, with Captain dubbed the deal as a “capital allocation mistake”.
The stock, like many tech firms, has taken a battering in recent months, with shares tumbling over 65 per cent in the past six months alone.
Just Eat lost its spot on London’s top index last November after previously having a dual listing in London and Amsterdam.
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