DoorDash is preparing to announce a deal to buy Instacart as early as Thursday morning, October 29th, 2026, according to sources cited by CNBC in a report published on Wednesday, October 28th, 2026. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, October 26th, 2026 that the transaction could value Instacart at around $17 billion.
That would put two delivery apps that spent a decade competing for the same drivers, the same merchants and the same customers under one roof. One company would handle both the restaurant order and the grocery run.
What happened
The story began with The Information, which reported on Friday, October 23rd, 2026 that Instacart was exploring a sale and had held preliminary discussions with potential buyers including Uber and DoorDash, according to Reuters as carried by U.S. News. Semafor then reported exclusively on October 26th, 2026 that DoorDash was in exclusive talks, that a deal was far from certain, and that it could not determine the price or the structure. Instacart declined to comment and DoorDash did not immediately respond.
Reuters Breakingviews reported on October 27th, 2026 that Uber had decided to move on as a bidder, and Semafor noted Bloomberg had reported Uber's interest had cooled. Axios reported on October 28th, 2026 that both the Journal and Reuters put roughly $17 billion on the prospective deal, which would work out to over $70 per Instacart share, and that neither outlet said whether DoorDash would pay all cash or a mix of cash and stock.
Why the shares moved
Instacart shares rose about 9% on Friday, October 23rd, 2026 to $56.44, then about 7.87% on Monday, October 26th, 2026 to $60.88 after touching a 52-week high of $62.00, per Investing.com, Reuters Breakingviews and Yahoo Finance. DoorDash fell about 5% to 6% on Monday. CNBC reported Instacart rose about 4% in Wednesday after-hours trading while DoorDash slipped less than 1%.
Estimates of what Instacart was worth before the reports differ by outlet. Investing.com and Reuters (via U.S. News) put it at about $12 billion, while Forbes reported a market cap of $13.4 billion at Friday's close and nearly $14.5 billion at Monday's close. Reuters Breakingviews calculated that $17 billion would be a 42% premium to Instacart's pre-news trading level, and that DoorDash CEO Tony Xu would need at least $630 million of efficiencies to justify the mooted $5 billion premium for control.
What the record shows
Our own record has nothing to add on insider activity here. The material gathered for this story carries no insider transaction disclosures at either company tied to the talks, and we are not going to invent one.
What the record does carry is a history. DoorDash and Instacart, legally Maplebear Inc., held acquisition talks back in 2021 at a reported Instacart valuation of $40 billion to $50 billion, and those talks collapsed partly over price and regulatory concerns, according to The Information as reported by Reuters and Investing.com. Forbes reported on October 27th, 2026 that Instacart founder and former chief executive Apoorva Mehta held a 7% stake, or about 17 million shares, per the last proxy filed in April 2026, and that the run-up made him a billionaire again. Instacart shares were up 40% over the prior month.
What to watch
Nothing is signed. Yahoo Finance's October 27th, 2026 write-up stated plainly that no agreement has been signed, neither company has confirmed the talks, and a deal is not guaranteed. Citi analyst Ronald Josey wrote in an October 26th, 2026 note that a $16 billion to $17 billion valuation implies about $65 per Instacart share at the midpoint, roughly 7% above the October 26th close.
Antitrust is the open question. CNBC reported that analysts have flagged possible scrutiny given the overlap, with Wedbush writing that third-party delivery platforms remain a minority of total grocery consumption but that narrower market definitions could make approvals harder. Semafor reported that dealmakers see a permissive window under the current administration. Separately, The Edge Malaysia reported on October 29th, 2026 that DoorDash moved its earnings release date forward by almost a week amid the talks; Benzinga had earlier referenced a November 4th DoorDash earnings date.
Reporting for this story comes from CNBC, Semafor, Reuters and Reuters Breakingviews, Axios, Forbes, Investing.com, PYMNTS, Yahoo Finance and The Edge Malaysia, dated October 23rd, 2026 through October 29th, 2026.
Informational only, not investment advice.