Economy News
DoorDash buys Instacart for $17bn: more stores for shoppers, one giant in groceries
DoorDash has agreed to buy Instacart in a $17bn deal announced on Thursday 29 October. The Guardian reports that the Instacart brand and app will remain, its shoppers can keep fulfilling orders, and grocers can choose to work with either platform.
BBC News focuses on the customer promise: Instacart shoppers will be able to buy from 150,000 stores, up from the 100,000 currently on the platform. The Guardian puts the same change as 50,000 additional stores covered by DoorDash.
For DoorDash, best known for restaurant delivery, the deal is a large bet on groceries, a category its CEO described as hard to master online. Grocers keep the choice of which platform to work with, the Guardian adds.
“One of the hardest things to get right online.” — DoorDash's CEO, on grocery delivery, via The Guardian
How each outlet framed it
- BBC News — the firms' own pitch: more choice and more stores for customers.
- The Guardian — the market angle: a major grocery-delivery consolidation that will supercharge DoorDash's grocery business.
Where the numbers differ: both outlets agree on the store count; they simply express it differently, as 150,000 stores in total (BBC) or 50,000 added (Guardian).
What we don't know yet: whether competition regulators will approve a deal that brings DoorDash and Instacart under one owner, and whether fees for shoppers and grocers will change.