DoorDash agrees to buy Instacart for $17 billion in grocery delivery consolidation

The deal terms

DoorDash said on Thursday, 29 October 2026, that it had agreed to buy Instacart in a transaction valued at about $17 billion. Instacart shareholders will receive $65 per share, a price 11% above the company's closing level on Wednesday, 28 October. The New York Times described the payment as mostly cash, while Bloomberg described it as cash and stock. Both companies' boards have approved the agreement. Engadget noted that the combination would bring together the two largest grocery delivery platforms in the US, assuming antitrust scrutiny does not stop it.

Why DoorDash wants Instacart

DoorDash built its business on restaurant takeout and has expanded into grocery through its own delivery service. The company said the purchase would benefit communities by letting more supermarkets run their websites on Instacart's platform. Tony Xu, DoorDash co-founder and chief executive, laid out the logic in a statement:

“Instacart has spent years learning to do that well for grocers, while DoorDash has built a delivery network and technology that local stores rely on every day.”

The deal would be DoorDash's largest to date, bigger than its roughly $8 billion purchase of Finnish food-delivery company Wolt and its acquisition of British rival Deliveroo. DoorDash also began testing a drone delivery program earlier in 2026, a separate push into new services.

Scale of the two businesses

In the third quarter, DoorDash said it completed 993 million orders, up 28% from a year earlier, with customers spending nearly $34 billion and the company generating $4.6 billion in revenue. Instacart's most recent results, for the second quarter, showed 90.3 million orders worth about $10.4 billion and revenue of just over $1 billion. Market capitalization stands at roughly $72 billion for DoorDash and about $14 billion for Instacart. Private investors valued Instacart at $39 billion during the pandemic grocery boom, and it listed in 2023 at $30 a share.

DoorDash72

Instacart14

DoorDash

72 USD billion

Instacart

14 USD billion

Data from the article text

Instacart has faced growing pressure from larger rivals. DoorDash began offering full grocery delivery from nearly 2,700 Kroger-owned stores nationwide, an announcement that pushed Instacart's stock lower. DoorDash has also added Family Dollar and dozens of other grocery partners, while Instacart brings relationships with more than 2,200 retailers.

Path to the announcement

Reports that Instacart was exploring a sale circulated before the announcement, with The Information and The Wall Street Journal both cited on the matter. Uber was also reportedly a possible buyer. The Verge reported that The Information had described Instacart's talks with Uber and DoorDash, and by Monday, 26 October, The Wall Street Journal said DoorDash was in advanced talks that could be finalized within that same week. DoorDash had made an earlier approach in 2021 at a higher valuation, but those negotiations reportedly ended over price and possible antitrust regulation. DoorDash also moved its third-quarter earnings release forward by almost a week, to before the market opened on 29 October, from 4 November, without giving a reason.

Wider consolidation

Handelsblatt linked the wave of takeovers to rising cost pressure and tighter rules for couriers. Just Eat Takeaway bought Grubhub for $7.3 billion, and Uber is acquiring the German group Delivery Hero for $15 billion. Uber has also acquired Postmates, according to The Verge. DoorDash's own grocery unit faces competition from Instacart, Uber, Walmart and Amazon, which gives the purchase its strategic logic.

Open questions

Antitrust scrutiny is the main open condition for the agreement, as Engadget framed it. The articles reviewed do not set a closing date. Antitrust concerns also reportedly ended the 2021 talks between the two companies.