DoorDash in advanced talks to acquire Instacart, Wall Street Journal reports

Instacart shares are up 4.8 per cent at $54.18 in trading, while DoorDash shares are down 1.07 per cent.

The Wall Street Journal reports that DoorDash is in advanced talks to acquire Instacart. Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper says a deal could come as soon as this week, and that the talks could still fall apart.

Instacart shares are up 4.8 per cent at $54.18. DoorDash shares are down 1.07 per cent. Semafor describes the talks as exclusive and puts Instacart's value at roughly $12 billion, or around $15 billion at a conservative premium.

Instacart agreed in April 2026 to acquire Instaleap, a fulfillment platform operating in roughly 30 countries. It has added partners such as Dollar General and has repurchased more than $1.8 billion of stock.

DoorDash and Instacart held acquisition talks in 2021, at a reported Instacart valuation of $40 billion to $50 billion. Investing.com reports that those talks collapsed partly over regulatory concerns.

A move from exploring a sale to advanced talks with a single buyer narrows the options open to Instacart. A change of control would typically pause or unwind the Instaleap integration and the buyback program, and both are now in question. Combining food delivery and grocery delivery under one operator would bring together two businesses that compete for the same driver networks and household spending, which could draw antitrust scrutiny. Questions about Instacart's enterprise and advertising units were open before the talks were reported, and the time to resolve them is now shorter.