DoorDash To Buy Instacart For $17 Billion

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — San Francisco-based delivery giant DoorDash announced on Thursday that it has agreed to buy competitor Instacart for $17 billion.

DoorDash users will immediately be able to start buying groceries through Instacart's store network, and tens of thousands of new stores will become available to the latter company's users, according to the company.

"DoorDash and Instacart share a mission to help local businesses succeed," DoorDash said in a statement on Thursday. "Consumers will have more stores to choose from, more savings opportunities when they choose to shop with a local business, and faster delivery options, while Dashers and Shoppers will have more ways to earn."

Chris Rogers, CEO of Instacart, said Instacart has transformed online grocery shopping by "helping retailers of all sizes compete and grow" over the last 14 years.

Combining with DoorDash will allow Instacart to "do even more," Rogers said.

"Together, we can accelerate innovation across the grocery industry and make online grocery more seamless and affordable for the millions of households we serve," Rogers said.

Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash, said grocery shopping is "one of the hardest things to get right online."

"Someone has to pick a ripe avocado, find a substitute you’d choose yourself, and get the ice cream to you before it melts," Xu said. "Together, we could give stores of every size more of those tools and unlock the potential of grocery delivery."