DoorDash in advanced talks to buy Instacart for $17 billion as the stock fell 6.1% before November 4
DoorDash is in advanced talks to buy Instacart at about $17 billion, a price half its 2021 peak, on the same day Instacart killed its $350 million smart-cart bet. The deal may sign as soon as Wednesday, two days before DoorDash must explain to shareholders what it is buying.
Vincent Jiang · 2 min read
DoorDash+3.72% — DoorDash, up 3.72 percent today spent five years paying restaurants' commissions; now it wants to own the grocery toll too. On Monday, Reuters reported DoorDash is in advanced talks to buy Instacart at about $17 billion, with a deal possible as soon as Wednesday 1. The market's verdict was instant: Instacart rose 7.87% while DoorDash fell 6.10% to $168.44, roughly 30% below its August peak near $240 123.
The price tells you who is selling
In 2021, DoorDash reportedly held talks to buy Instacart at $40 billion to $50 billion; Biden-era antitrust worries and price killed them 4. Instacart's investors once marked it at $39 billion 1. Now the reported deal price is $17 billion, against a Friday market value near $13 billion 1. Semafor reports the talks are exclusive and expects no antitrust fight, but warns senior Democrats have said they will probe closed deals if they win next month's midterms 5.
Instacart's reported sale price is less than half its 2021 peak
- Estimate
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| 2021 private peak (estimate) | $39B |
| 2023 IPO close | $11B |
| Fri 23 Oct 2026 | $13.4B |
| Deal under talks (estimate) | $17B |
The target just canceled its own hardware bet
The same Monday, Instacart said it would wind down Caper Cart, the smart shopping-cart business it bought for $350 million in 2021, pull carts from partners like Kroger−1.61% — Kroger, down 1.61 percent today, Wakefern and Aldi by the end of Q1 2027, and book $55 million to $80 million in pretax charges 2. Its own words: "retailer adoption has not scaled quickly enough to justify our continued investment" 2. DoorDash would pay marketplace multiples for a company that just called its AI hardware unscaleable.
Grocery is a thinner toll than restaurants
Grocery is a thinner toll than restaurants, where fee-cutting rivals and a pizzeria owner who built his own ordering app with Claude Code show merchants routing around DoorDash's take 6. Management has called grocery its fastest-growing vertical 4. The test comes November 4, when DoorDash reports Q3 results 7; founder Apoorva Mehta's stake is back above $1 billion on the news 8. Watch whether the buyer explains what a $17 billion toll booth collects 78.
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