---
title: "DoorDash in advanced talks to buy Instacart for $17 billion as the stock fell 6.1% before November 4"
description: "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."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Deals"
published: 2026-10-27T13:49:00.878Z
modified: 2026-10-27T13:49:00.878Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/doordash-in-advanced-talks-to-buy-instacart-for-17-billion-as-the-stock-fell-6-1-before-november-4
language: en
keywords: "DoorDash, Instacart, Grocery Delivery, Mergers And Acquisitions, Antitrust"
---

# 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.

[DoorDash](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/doordash) 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](https://www.streetinsider.com/Reuters/DoorDash+in+talks+to+buy+Instacart+in+roughly+%2417+billion+deal%2C+source+says/27233764.html) [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 [1][2][3].

## 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](https://www.semafor.com/article/10/26/2026/doordash-in-exclusive-talks-to-acquire-instacart) and expects no antitrust fight, but warns senior Democrats have said they will probe closed deals if they win next month's midterms [5].

*Chart: **Instacart's reported sale price is less than half its 2021 peak** Bars showing Instacart's valuation falling from about $39 billion at its 2021 private peak and roughly $11 billion at its 2023 IPO close to about $13 billion last Friday and the reported $17 billion deal price.*

*Instacart valuation, USD billions: 2021 private round and 2023 Nasdaq first-day close per Forbes; Friday October 23, 2026, close per Forbes; deal price is the value under discussion reported by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, not an agreement. [1][8]*

## The target just canceled its own hardware bet

The same Monday, Instacart [said it would wind down Caper Cart](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-26/instacart-to-wind-down-smart-cart-business-amid-sale-talks), the smart shopping-cart business it bought for $350 million in 2021, pull carts from partners like [Kroger](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/kroger), 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](https://theinference.org/article/doordash-s-dashos-owns-the-restaurant-s-customer-data-as-fee-cutting-rivals-circle) and a pizzeria owner who [built his own ordering app with Claude Code](https://old.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1xcm78x/i_used_claude_code_to_build_a_pizzeria_its_own/) 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 [7][8].

## Takeaway

DoorDash would pay about $17 billion, less than half of Instacart's 2021 peak, for a grocery toll booth that just scrapped its own smart-cart bet, and it must explain the math to shareholders on November 4.

## Sources

1. [Reuters via StreetInsider, DoorDash in talks to buy Instacart in roughly $17 billion deal, source says, 26 October 2026](https://www.streetinsider.com/Reuters/DoorDash+in+talks+to+buy+Instacart+in+roughly+%2417+billion+deal%2C+source+says/27233764.html)
2. [Bloomberg, Instacart to End Smart Cart Program as Sale Talks With DoorDash Continue, 26 October 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-26/instacart-to-wind-down-smart-cart-business-amid-sale-talks)
3. [Bay Street, Why DoorDash, MercadoLibre, and Fair Isaac Dropped, 27 October 2026](https://www.baystreet.ca/stockstowatch/24282/Why-DoorDash-MercadoLibre-and-Fair-Isaac-Dropped)
4. [Yahoo Finance, Instacart Explores Potential Sale As Talks Begin With Uber And DoorDash, 26 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/instacart-explores-potential-sale-talks-072117826.html)
5. [Semafor, DoorDash in exclusive talks to acquire Instacart, 26 October 2026](https://www.semafor.com/article/10/26/2026/doordash-in-exclusive-talks-to-acquire-instacart)
6. [Reddit r/ClaudeAI, I used Claude Code to build a pizzeria its own ordering app so regulars stop paying DoorDash 30%, 24 October 2026](https://old.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1xcm78x/i_used_claude_code_to_build_a_pizzeria_its_own/)
7. [Business Wire via AOL, DoorDash to Announce Third Quarter 2026 Results on November 4, 2026, 9 October 2026](https://www.aol.com/articles/doordash-announce-third-quarter-2026-130000000.html)
8. [Forbes, Instacart Founder Is A Billionaire Again After DoorDash Acquisition Talks, 27 October 2026](https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2026/10/27/instacart-founder-is-a-billionaire-again-after-doordash-acquisition-talks/)


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DoorDash in advanced talks to buy Instacart for $17 billion as the stock fell 6.1% before November 4 — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/doordash-in-advanced-talks-to-buy-instacart-for-17-billion-as-the-stock-fell-6-1-before-november-4