DoorDash has agreed to buy Instacart for roughly $17 billion (about Php 1.1 trillion), the two companies announced. Instacart shareholders get $65 a share (about Php 4,160), and at least 75% of the total will be paid in cash, the rest in DoorDash stock.
That’s a 26% premium on Instacart’s closing price on October 22nd, the last trading day before media reports of a possible deal. Instacart’s board approved the deal unanimously.
DoorDash is expected to keep the Instacart app, along with its brand and the technology it sells to retailers. Instacart customers could also shop at more than 50,000 additional stores, on top of the nearly 100,000 on the platform today.
If you pay for both DashPass and Instacart+, you’d pay one membership fee instead of two. The companies put the savings at about $100 million (about Php 6.4 billion) a year across members, though they haven’t said what the single membership will cost.
Grocers and retailers of every size would get DoorDash’s delivery network and Instacart’s grocery and fulfillment technology, in both apps and on their own websites, plus the advertising and AI tools each company has built. More grocers could run their own online stores and ad networks on Instacart’s technology, and add capacity for online orders through DoorDash’s DashMart Fulfillment Services.
Neither company is locking grocers in: they can still work with any delivery platform they choose, the companies say. Instacart Shoppers can keep shopping only on Instacart or choose to take DoorDash orders too.
“Grocery is one of the hardest things to get right online,” DoorDash CEO Tony Xu says in the announcement. Buying the company that has been at it for 14 years is one shortcut.
The companies expect the deal to close at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028. It still needs Instacart shareholders’ approval, a US antitrust review and sign-off from regulators, including in Canada and Israel. Holders of about 19% of Instacart’s shares have already agreed to vote for it. A pretty huge deal, all things considered – users can only hope that it works out well for them in the end.
