DoorDash agrees to buy Instacart for $17 billion, closing expected by mid-2028

DoorDash announced on Thursday, October 29, that it has agreed to acquire rival Instacart for $17 billion, joining restaurant takeout and grocery delivery under one company. ¹

The terms. DoorDash will pay $65 for each Instacart share, and the boards of both companies have approved the deal. ¹ Closing is expected toward the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028. ¹

What changes for customers right now. Nothing. The two companies will keep operating as separate, independent businesses until the transaction closes. ¹ After that, DoorDash plans to keep Instacart’s brand, enterprise technology products and app. ¹

What the companies say could change later. DoorDash says grocers could use Instacart’s technology to build their own online ordering platforms and advertising businesses. ¹ Grocers could also tap DoorDash’s fulfillment services to handle more online orders and offer lower-cost delivery. ¹ That last part is a stated possibility, not a promised price cut.

DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said that when more people shop local, more dollars stay local. ¹ Instacart CEO Chris Rogers framed the deal as a way to create new opportunities for retail and brand partners. ¹

Instacart’s market cap is above $13 billion, and its stock is up 25% for the year. ¹ TechCrunch reads the timing as a chance to sell at a good price before competition in grocery delivery heats up; that is the outlet’s interpretation, not a company statement. ¹ Bloomberg previously reported that Instacart held talks with Uber, which walked away. ¹

Asterisk count: three. The deal needs to close first, and that may be as late as mid-2028. The lower-cost delivery is described only as something grocers could offer. And the app is kept after closing, so nothing is promised beyond that.

Who this is for: current Instacart and DoorDash users are affected equally for now, which means not at all until closing.

Our read: Two years is a long runway for a promise of cheaper grocery delivery. Until DoorDash names actual fees or pricing, treat “lower-cost” as a goal, not a line on your bill.

Footnotes

1. TechCrunch, “DoorDash to acquire Instacart for $17B”. Retrieved October 29, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²