--- title: "DoorDash's order growth was 28% with Deliveroo and 17% without, and the ex-Deliveroo line ends" description: "DoorDash's record third quarter grew 28% as reported but 17% without Deliveroo, and the company says the ex-acquisition line stops after this quarter, the same week it signed a $17 billion Instacart deal and a day after the FTC ordered it to explain its pricing and courier pay." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Applications" published: 2026-11-04T15:15:20.563Z modified: 2026-11-04T15:15:20.563Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/doordash-s-order-growth-was-28-with-deliveroo-and-17-without-and-the-ex-deliveroo-line-ends language: en keywords: "DoorDash, Earnings, Delivery, Instacart, FTC, Deliveroo" --- # DoorDash's order growth was 28% with Deliveroo and 17% without, and the ex-Deliveroo line ends > DoorDash's record third quarter grew 28% as reported but 17% without Deliveroo, and the company says the ex-acquisition line stops after this quarter, the same week it signed a $17 billion Instacart deal and a day after the FTC ordered it to explain its pricing and courier pay. ## The line that shows what growth was bought is being retired In its best-ever quarter, filed with the SEC on October 29, 2026, [DoorDash](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/doordash) stated quarterly records in marketplace GOV, revenue and net income, and included a line few headlines picked up: "[beginning in Q4 2026, we intend to stop disclosing quarterly results excluding Deliveroo](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1792789/000179278926000065/dashform425combined.htm)" [1]. That line is the only disclosure separating the growth DoorDash earned from the growth it bought. ## Eleven of 28 points of order growth came from Deliveroo Deliveroo is the overseas delivery company DoorDash acquired last year. The quarter's headlines: 993 million total orders, up 28% year over year; marketplace GOV, the dollar value of orders completed on its marketplaces, of $33.9 billion, up 36%; revenue of $4.6 billion, up 34% [1]. Strip out Deliveroo and the same quarter grows 17%, 23% and 23% [1]. The takeover of a rival added more than a third of the reported order growth. *Chart: **A third of DoorDash's reported growth was bought** Grouped column chart comparing year-over-year growth as reported versus excluding Deliveroo for total orders, marketplace GOV and revenue, all in Q3 2026.* *Year-over-year growth in Q3 2026, as reported versus excluding Deliveroo, percent. Source: DoorDash Q3 2026 press release filed with the SEC, October 29, 2026 [1]. [1]* ## The dates, stated as facts The FTC sent pricing-and-pay orders to nine companies on October 28, a day before DoorDash announced the Instacart deal [2]. The deal: $65.00 per share, about $17 billion in equity value, at least 75% in cash, a 26% premium to Instacart's October 22 close, with closing expected no earlier than end-2027 [1]. Whether the retirement of the ex-Deliveroo line this exact week signals anything is an open question; the dates are facts, the motive is not stated anywhere. The deal is already reshaping daily life: DoorDash's employee question-and-answer document, filed with the SEC, [bars staff from connecting with Instacart employees on LinkedIn until close](https://www.businessinsider.com/doordash-instacart-tells-workers-not-connect-peers-on-linkedin-2026-11), standard gun-jumping hygiene in the words of antitrust lawyer David Gelfand of Cleary Gottlieb [3], and Northeastern lecturer Chris Selland suggests it may also guard against brain drain [3]. [Our October 29 piece covered the deal's price and cash funding](https://theinference.org/article/doordash-s-record-quarter-funds-a-17-billion-instacart-buyout-at-65-a-share-at-least-75-in-cash) (/article/doordash-s-record-quarter-funds-a-17-billion-instacart-buyout-at-65-a-share-at-least-75-in-cash); [our October 14 preview flagged that Q3 would be the last quarter Deliveroo inflates growth](https://theinference.org/article/doordash-reports-november-4-the-last-quarter-deliveroo-keeps-growth-near-32-before-it-slides-to-21) [3][3]. ## What the regulator and the market are watching The FTC wants to know how personal data shapes what consumers pay and what Dashers, DoorDash's couriers, earn. [Responses are due 45 days after each company receives its order](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/trump-ftc-turns-doordash-pricing-174609804.html), which lands in mid-December at the earliest [2]. Pay is already expensive: DoorDash settled New York City's Dasher-pay probe for $131.5 million in September, and its legal reserve rose from $263 million at end-2025 to $406 million at June 30 [2]. Analysts expect earnings per share nearly to double from $5.10 in 2025 to $9.91 by 2028, which assumes DoorDash keeps setting its own fees and pay [2]. ## The company's side, stated fairly DoorDash's stated reason holds up on its face: Q4 2026 marks the Deliveroo anniversary, so total results become comparable with the year-ago period [1]. The FTC order is a study, not a rule; no fee has to change because of it [2]. At roughly 26 times forward earnings, near a five-year low, the stock already prices in much of this worry [2]. ## The February call is the test From the February 2027 print, the fastest growth number DoorDash publishes will arrive undecomposed; the last ex-Deliveroo figure on record is 17% order growth. Watch the FTC responses and the February earnings call. Ask for the bridge from reported to organic growth there. A refusal would not prove anything improper, but it would tell investors the company prefers they not know how much of its growth was bought. ## Takeaway DoorDash's record Q3 grew 28% as reported but 17% without Deliveroo, and the ex-acquisition disclosure ends after this quarter, so investors will have to ask for the bridge on the February 2027 call. ## Sources 1. [DoorDash, Inc., Q3 2026 earnings press release, Form 425/8-K filed with the SEC, 29 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1792789/000179278926000065/dashform425combined.htm) 2. [Yahoo Finance, Roxanna Maglangit, Trump's FTC Turns to DoorDash's Pricing and Dasher Pay After the Instacart Deal, 3 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/trump-ftc-turns-doordash-pricing-174609804.html) 3. [Business Insider, DoorDash tells workers not to connect to Instacart peers on LinkedIn, November 2026](https://www.businessinsider.com/doordash-instacart-tells-workers-not-connect-peers-on-linkedin-2026-11) --- DoorDash's order growth was 28% with Deliveroo and 17% without, and the ex-Deliveroo line ends — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/doordash-s-order-growth-was-28-with-deliveroo-and-17-without-and-the-ex-deliveroo-line-ends