DoorDash (DASH) Shares Slide on Report It Is in Talks to Buy Instacart
DoorDash slid 6.1% on Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported it is in advanced talks to buy delivery rival Instacart, in a deal that a source told Reuters would value Instacart at about $17 billion.
What happened
Shares of DoorDash (DASH), the restaurant- and grocery-delivery app, slid 6.1% on Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported that it is in advanced talks to buy Instacart, its rival in grocery delivery.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the deal would value Instacart at about $17 billion and could be finalized as soon as Wednesday, though there is no guarantee. Bloomberg separately reported advanced talks at about the same price. Instacart, whose parent company is Maplebear, was worth about $13 billion at Friday’s close, Reuters said, and its talks with Uber are no longer active.
The talks were not a complete surprise: on Friday, The Information reported that Instacart was exploring a sale and had held early talks with DoorDash and Uber. Instacart’s own shares rose about 8% on Monday, Reuters and Investing.com reported. DoorDash closed at $168.44, down 6.1% from the previous close.
Why it matters
In a takeover, the buyer’s stock often falls while the target’s rises, because the buyer usually pays more than the market price. Here the reported price is about 30% above what Instacart was worth on Friday, by our calculation from the Reuters figures, and DoorDash shareholders would be paying it.
“Strategically, DoorDash looks like the more natural fit for Instacart,” Nick Smith, co-founder of Manifesto Growth Architects, told Reuters. A deal would put two of the best-known US delivery apps under one roof, and we would expect antitrust regulators to look closely before it could close.
What the market is telling us
DoorDash’s shares moved 5% or more on 18 of the last 252 sessions. The last move at least this big in the same direction was on 28 September 2026, when the stock fell 7.7%. The stock is down 25.6% this year, and at $168.44 it sits 36.7% below its 52-week closing high of $266.06 from 29 October 2025. $1,000 invested in DoorDash five years ago would be worth $791 today.
Our view: Monday’s drop is a down payment on a premium nobody has announced yet; the next move depends on the final price, and on how much of it DoorDash pays in new shares rather than cash.
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Mostly Markets is for information and education only and isn't investment advice. Claire Okafor is a pen name. Prices are from Nasdaq and CNBC as of the time stated.
