Instacart Tests the Waters for a Sale, and DoorDash Picked Up the Phone

Instacart might be up for grabs. On Friday, The Information reported that the grocery delivery company hired an investment bank to explore its options and has held talks with DoorDash about a possible acquisition. Bloomberg then added another twist: Instacart also spoke with Uber, though Uber reportedly walked away.

Wall Street liked what it heard, at least on Instacart's side. The stock jumped more than 9% on Friday. Shares of Uber and DoorDash both slipped, which is pretty typical when investors start picturing a buyer writing a very large check. Instacart is worth more than $13 billion on the market, and its stock was already up about 25% this year before the news broke.

Before anyone starts planning the merger party, it's worth slowing down. Bloomberg described the conversations as early and said they might not lead to a deal at all. Instacart declined to comment.

Still, the logic is clear. Grocery delivery is getting more crowded and more competitive, and TechCrunch points out that this might be a smart moment for Instacart to sell while its stock is doing well. For DoorDash, adding Instacart would mean a much bigger grocery business on top of its restaurant empire. That would also draw a lot of regulatory attention, since we'd be talking about two of the biggest names in on-demand delivery becoming one.

For regular shoppers, the big question is what happens to prices and fees. Fewer big players usually means less pressure to keep delivery costs low, and the workers who do the shopping and driving would have fewer apps to choose between.