DoorDash is buying Instacart in a roughly $17 billion deal, and regulators now decide whether it survives. The two companies announced the agreement Thursday, putting the DoorDash Instacart acquisition on the table for the FTC and the Justice Department to chew on.
If you use either app, here’s the short version: nothing changes today. Instacart is telling shoppers it’s business as usual, and the two companies will keep operating independently until the deal closes. We also broke down how the earlier acquisition talks could affect your fees.
What the DoorDash Instacart deal means for your fees
Here’s the risk in plain terms. Two of the biggest names in delivery would become one company, and fewer rivals usually means less pressure to keep delivery fees and markups low. Nothing guarantees your fees rise, but nothing in the announcement guarantees they won’t. Fee changes, if they come, would likely arrive after the deal closes in 2027 or 2028.
The upside is real, too. DoorDash says Instacart customers could eventually shop at more than 50,000 additional stores, according to CBS News. More options are good. Less competition is the part to watch.
Grocers have a stake as well. If one company controls most delivery orders, stores lose leverage when they negotiate commissions and terms.
The DoorDash Instacart acquisition by the numbers
DoorDash is paying $65 per Instacart share, which works out to about $17 billion in equity value. That’s a 26% premium to Instacart’s Oct. 22 close, the last trading day before reports of a possible deal surfaced, according to DoorDash’s SEC filing.
Instacart shareholders can choose $65 in cash, 0.3372 DoorDash shares, or a mix of $48.75 in cash and 0.0843 shares. There’s a catch, though. Stock is capped at 25% of the total payout, so at least 75% of this deal is cash. Elections are also subject to proration, which means not everyone will get the option they pick.
DoorDash plans to fund the cash with money on hand plus debt, and the deal has no financing condition. It also expects at least $500 million a year in synergies, net of investments, over several years, per Benzinga.
What the promises mean for shoppers and grocers
The companies say grocers will stay free to use other delivery services. Instacart shoppers will also keep the choice of which orders to accept, including whether to take DoorDash orders. Those are promises on paper, and we’ll see how they hold up. Instacart’s brand, app and enterprise technology products are staying put, TechCrunch reports.
“Grocery is one of the hardest things to get right online,” DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said. He’s not wrong, and the fee question is where that difficulty will show up for you.
Why Instacart said yes to the merger this time
This isn’t DoorDash’s first date with Instacart. The two held talks in 2021 at a valuation of $40 billion to $50 billion. Those collapsed partly over antitrust concerns, Yahoo Finance reported. Instacart is now worth well under half of that, which says a lot about how the last few years went.
The Information reported on Oct. 23 that Instacart was exploring a sale. Uber took early talks but later walked away, per The Next Web’s summary of that reporting. Meanwhile, Amazon and Walmart keep pressing, and growth has slowed. Revenue grew 11% in both 2024 and 2025, down from 19% in 2023.
DoorDash, for its part, held about two-thirds of U.S. food delivery volume, per NBC. Adding the biggest name in grocery delivery is the kind of move that makes antitrust lawyers cancel their weekend plans. That’s the core worry for any Instacart merger of this size.
Wall Street likes the DoorDash Instacart takeover. Regulators haven’t spoken.
DoorDash also reported third-quarter results alongside the news. Revenue hit $4.62 billion against estimates of $4.56 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.06 per share against $0.84 expected, according to CNBC.
Shares jumped more than 6% in morning trading. Instacart stock stayed near flat, which is what happens when a deal price is already baked in. For more on how the market reacted, see our Thursday market watch.
On the regulatory front, there is no word yet from the FTC or the Justice Department. Analysts say the Trump administration has shown greater willingness to approve deals than its predecessor, but that’s a read, not a ruling. Any DoorDash Instacart takeover will need that sign-off.
Don’t expect a quick finish. Closing is targeted for late 2027 or the first half of 2028. The deal still needs Instacart shareholder approval and regulatory clearances, including in Canada and Israel. Instacart has also suspended its guidance and cancelled its Nov. 5 earnings call.
So for now, keep ordering your groceries the way you always do. The real question is this: a year or two from now, does a bigger DoorDash make your delivery cheaper? Or does it just make the fee line a little harder to find?
