DoorDash sinks 13% as investors balk at $17B Instacart buyout

DoorDash shares took a hard fall Thursday. The delivery giant's stock dropped 13.30%, landing at $172.17 apiece by 10:10 a.m. ET as investors chewed over the risks baked into its $17 billion plan to swallow Instacart.

The deal, announced last week, hands Instacart shareholders $65 per share. DoorDash and Instacart say the combined company would give grocers and retailers both DoorDash's delivery muscle and Instacart's grocery and fulfillment tech, apps and websites included. Closing isn't expected until late 2027 or the first half of 2028 — a long, uncertain wait.

That wait is the problem. The tie-up is expected to draw regulatory scrutiny, and questions are piling up about financing costs, the headache of merging two sprawling operations, and pushback from retailers nervous about how much market power the combined player would wield.

DoorDash is already treating the two companies as strangers. Employees have been told not to connect with Instacart staff on LinkedIn until the deal closes, a reflection of the requirement to keep both businesses running independently while regulators review.

The whiplash is striking. Just last week, DoorDash shares jumped 9.56% in premarket trading after blowout quarterly results and the Instacart announcement landed together. Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2026 climbed 34% year-over-year to $4.6 billion, net income hit $466 million — up 90% — and diluted earnings per share reached $1.06, a 93% leap.

The road here was messy. The Information reported in late October that Instacart was exploring a sale and had held at least preliminary talks with DoorDash and Uber, pegging Instacart's market value near $14 billion with a potential sale worth $16 billion to $17 billion. The Wall Street Journal later reported a deal could be sealed within the week. Now shareholders are pricing in just how long the finish line really is.