The short version
DoorDash (DASH) has agreed to buy Instacart (CART) for $65 a share, valuing it at roughly $17 billion. Both boards have approved it.
The premium depends entirely on which day you measure from:
- 📈 26% against Instacart's close on 22 October, the last trading day before reports of a possible deal.
- 📈 11% against Instacart's close on Wednesday, the day before the announcement.
Both figures are accurate. Both have been reported as the premium. The gap between them is the leak.
Instacart shares didn't rise on the news. They traded near flat, because the move had already happened when the talks were first reported.
DoorDash shares jumped more than 8% in premarket trading, helped by third-quarter revenue of $4.62 billion that beat expectations the same morning.
And the timeline is unusually long. The deal is expected to close in late 2027 or the first half of 2028, subject to regulatory approval. That is potentially more than a year of waiting.
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The deal, in detail
Instacart shareholders get to choose how they are paid. The agreement offers three options per share:
- 💵 $65.00 in cash, or
- 📄 0.3372 DoorDash shares, or
- 🔀 A mix: $48.75 in cash plus 0.0843 DoorDash shares.
With a catch. Total stock consideration is capped at 25% of the deal. If too many shareholders ask for shares, they get scaled back proportionally. Most of this deal will be paid in cash.
How DoorDash is paying for it: cash on hand plus debt, with a financing commitment letter from JPMorgan. Notably, the transaction is not subject to a financing condition, which removes one of the most common reasons deals fall apart.
What happens to Instacart: DoorDash says the brand, the app and the enterprise technology products stay. Instacart customers would gain access to more than 50,000 additional stores, and the companies have pointed to combined membership savings for consumers.
The scale of the two businesses:
- 🚗 DoorDash: operating in 40 countries, more than 3 billion orders last year, around 9 million delivery workers, market value roughly $73 billion.
- 🛒 Instacart: about 600,000 shoppers, 338 million orders last year, market value roughly $13-14 billion before the deal.
Why DoorDash wants it: it dominates restaurant delivery; Instacart dominates grocery partnerships. Meanwhile Walmart and Amazon have been taking share in same-day grocery delivery, which is the competitive pressure sitting behind this.
Why the premium has two numbers
A takeover premium is not a fact about a company. It is a comparison, and someone chooses what to compare against.
Here both comparisons are legitimate:
- 📅 26% against 22 October. DoorDash's own announcement uses this date, describing it as the last trading day before media reports of a possible transaction. The logic: measure against the price before anyone knew.
- 📅 11% against Wednesday's close. The logic: measure against what the shares actually cost the day before the deal was confirmed.
The difference between them is the leak. Reports of talks emerged, Instacart's shares rose on that speculation, and by announcement day most of the gain had already happened. That is why Instacart shares traded near flat on the news — the market had priced it a week earlier.
This is worth internalising, because it applies to every takeover you will ever read about. The company being acquired almost always chooses the earlier, lower reference price, because it produces a bigger premium and makes the deal look more generous. Neither number is dishonest. They answer different questions.
The test: when you see "a 26% premium", ask premium to what, and on what date? If the answer is a price from before the news leaked, the shares you could actually buy today are already much closer to the offer.
It is the same mechanism we described when Wendy's shares jumped on a buyout proposal and still traded below the offer, and the same reason Moderna fell 18% on trial results that worked. Prices move when expectations change, not when news is confirmed.
The wait is the other half of the story
This deal is expected to close in late 2027 or the first half of 2028.
That is an unusually long runway, and it is driven by regulatory review. Two of the largest delivery platforms combining will be examined closely by competition authorities.
What that means for anyone looking at Instacart shares today:
- ⏳ Your money would be tied up for a year or more before the cash arrives, assuming approval.
- 📉 The gap between the share price and $65 is the market's estimate of the chance it completes, plus the cost of waiting that long.
- 🚫 And it can be blocked. Regulators can reject deals, or demand changes that alter the terms.
One genuine strength: the deal has no financing condition, with a commitment letter already in place. The money is arranged. The question is approval, not funding.
What could go wrong
- ⚖️ Regulatory approval is the main risk. A combination of the largest restaurant delivery platform and a leading grocery delivery platform invites scrutiny, and the long timeline reflects that.
- 🛒 Grocers may not like it. Instacart's business depends on retailer relationships. Some of those retailers compete with DoorDash, and losing them would weaken the logic of the deal.
- 🏪 Walmart and Amazon are the real competition, and both are pushing hard into same-day delivery with their own logistics.
- 💳 DoorDash is taking on debt to fund the cash portion, which changes its balance sheet.
- 📈 DoorDash shares rose 8% on the news, which means expectations for the combination are now built into the price before any of it has been delivered.
- 🔄 Integration is where most acquisitions disappoint. Keeping two brands, two apps and two sets of retailer relationships running is harder than announcing it.
DASH and CART are examples to research, not recommendations.
What should investors take from this?
Read the date behind any percentage.
A premium, a growth rate and a share-price move all depend on what they are measured against. Change the reference point and the same facts produce a very different-sounding number. In this deal, the identical offer is both a 26% premium and an 11% premium.
Three habits:
- 📅 Ask "compared with when?" for any percentage in a headline. The answer is usually chosen to flatter.
- ⏳ Check the expected completion date before treating an offer price as money in hand. Late 2027 is a long way from today.
- 🧾 Read how the deal is funded. No financing condition is a meaningful strength. A deal dependent on raising money later is a different proposition.
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FAQs
How much is DoorDash paying for Instacart? $65.00 for each Instacart share, an equity value of approximately $17 billion. Shareholders can elect cash, DoorDash stock at 0.3372 shares per Instacart share, or a mix of $48.75 cash and 0.0843 shares, with total stock consideration capped at 25% of the deal.
Is the premium 26% or 11%? Both. $65 represents a 26% premium to Instacart's closing price on 22 October, the last trading day before media reports of a possible transaction, and about 11% above its closing price the day before the announcement. The difference reflects the share price rising on reports of talks.
When will the deal complete? DoorDash expects completion in late 2027 or the first half of 2028, subject to regulatory approvals. The companies will operate separately until then.
What happens to the Instacart app? DoorDash says the Instacart brand, app and enterprise technology products will remain, and that Instacart customers will gain access to more than 50,000 additional stores.
Can I invest in DoorDash or Instacart from the UAE? DoorDash trades on the Nasdaq as DASH and Instacart as CART. On Nemo.money you can research and invest in eligible US-listed stocks and ETFs from $1 with zero commission, with uninvested cash earning 6% AER interest, paid daily in USD. Both are examples to research, not recommendations, and shares in announced transactions carry particular risks. Your capital is at risk.
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