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Business · North America

Instacart weighs sale after discussions with Uber and DoorDash

The Information reported that Instacart held preliminary sale discussions with Uber and DoorDash while an investment bank helped the grocery-delivery company assess its options. The New York Post said a buyer paying a 30% to 40% premium could offer about $16 billion to $17 billion, based on recent public technology deals.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 5 outlets' reporting · Article text read from 1 of 5 outletsHow it's made

View timeline · 7 entries
5 outlets2 regionsLatest reporting 3 min read
Coverage: Mostly CenterL 0 · C 4 · R 1

What happened

Key facts

  • An investment bank is helping Instacart assess its options, according to The Information, which cited people familiar with the matter (per New York Post, Reuters).
  • Instacart's market value was described as roughly $12 billion, while its pandemic-era valuation reached $39 billion (per New York Post).
  • A takeover by Uber or DoorDash could face antitrust scrutiny because both companies operate competing grocery-delivery businesses (per New York Post, Bloomberg, Reuters).
  • The Information previously reported that regulatory-approval concerns partly stalled earlier discussions between DoorDash and Instacart (per New York Post, Reuters).
  • Instacart agreed in 2024 to offer restaurant delivery powered by Uber Eats through its grocery app (per New York Post).
  • Yahoo Finance's headline said Instacart shares rose 10% on a report of a potential sale to Uber or DoorDash (per Yahoo).

The brief

Instacart has held preliminary discussions with Uber and DoorDash about a possible sale, according to The Information, as reported by the New York Post. The New York Post said an investment bank is helping Instacart assess its options, citing The Information's account of people familiar with the matter.

The discussions are preliminary; the reporting describes a potential transaction, not an agreed sale. The New York Post put Instacart's market value at roughly $12 billion and said the company had been valued at $39 billion during the pandemic-era grocery-delivery boom. It reported that a buyer paying a premium of 30% to 40% could offer around $16 billion to $17 billion.

That estimate was based on recent public technology deals, the New York Post said. Any acquisition by either company could draw antitrust scrutiny, the New York Post reported, because Uber and DoorDash both run grocery-delivery businesses that compete with Instacart.

The account does not describe a regulator's decision or a formal review; it identifies competition concerns as a potential obstacle to a deal. The New York Post also reported that regulatory-approval concerns partly slowed earlier discussions between DoorDash and Instacart.

The report linked those concerns to the Biden administration, but did not say that the earlier talks resulted in an acquisition. Instacart and DoorDash's previous discussions are distinct from the preliminary sale conversations now reported with both prospective buyers.

Instacart and Uber already have a commercial arrangement: in 2024, Instacart agreed to offer restaurant delivery powered by Uber Eats through its grocery app, the New York Post reported. That agreement concerns restaurant delivery; the current discussions described in the account concern a possible sale of Instacart.

The New York Post said Instacart declined to comment to the outlet. Bloomberg's headline described Instacart shares as rallying on the sale-talk report, while Yahoo Finance's headline said the shares jumped 10%; those headlines do not provide further details about the trading.

Reuters' headline characterized the talks as being for a sale, and mezha.net's headline described Instacart as exploring a possible sale. The reported offer range, regulatory concern and investment-bank involvement come from the New York Post's account of The Information's reporting.

Why it matters

  • Instacart's roughly $12 billion market value and the reported $16 billion to $17 billion potential offer range frame the financial scale of the discussions.
  • Instacart, Uber and DoorDash have a direct commercial and competitive connection: both possible buyers operate grocery-delivery businesses, and Instacart uses Uber Eats to provide restaurant delivery through its app.
  • Competition among Instacart, Uber and DoorDash is the stated mechanism behind possible antitrust scrutiny of a takeover.

What to watch next

  • Whether Instacart continues assessing its options with the investment bank.
  • Whether Uber or DoorDash advances from preliminary discussions toward a potential offer.
  • Whether competition concerns become a regulatory-approval obstacle, as they partly did in earlier DoorDash discussions.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
5 source articles · 5 unique outlets · 4 distinct reports
Outlet political mix: Mostly Center· 4 Center · 1 Right
Where the outlets are based: US/Canada 40% · Global 40% · Other 20%
Outlet political mix
Mostly Center
Left
Center
Right
0 outlets
4 outlets
1 outlet
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
5 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada
Coverage imbalance
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among Center-rated outlets (4 of 5 rated sources); comparatively few Left-rated outlets have published on the event.
How we measure coverage

2 sources are from a wire service (AP, Reuters, AFP or Bloomberg), whose reporting other outlets often republish.

How outlets' accounts compare

Updat3 does not yet have enough full reports to compare how outlets framed this story.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. Congress enacted the Sherman Antitrust Act, prohibiting restraints of trade and monopolization.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  2. Congress enacted the Clayton Antitrust Act, addressing mergers that may substantially lessen competition.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  3. Congress enacted the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, requiring premerger notification for qualifying transactions.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  4. Instacart was founded in 2012 by Apoorva Mehta and began operating as an online grocery-delivery service.
    Background · from our historical context
  5. DoorDash was founded as a restaurant-delivery company.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  6. Instacart’s pandemic-era private valuation reached about $39 billion in 2021, when demand for grocery delivery surged.
    Background · from our historical context
  7. In 2024, Instacart agreed to add restaurant delivery powered by Uber Eats to its grocery app, creating a commercial partnership between the companies before the reported sale discussions.
    Background · from our historical context

How we got here

In 2024, Instacart agreed to add restaurant delivery powered by Uber Eats to its grocery app, creating a commercial partnership between the companies before the reported sale discussions. Instacart’s pandemic-era private valuation reached about $39 billion in 2021, when demand for grocery delivery surged.

Instacart was founded in 2012 by Apoorva Mehta and began operating as an online grocery-delivery service. Uber launched Uber Eats in 2014, while DoorDash, founded in 2013, expanded from restaurant delivery into grocery delivery. Any acquisition involving a major competitor would be reviewed under US antitrust law.

Original sources

2 of 5 articles · US/Canada · Show all

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