Instacart weighs sale after 14% revenue growth, talks with rivals
Key Facts
Instacart is weighing a sale and has held preliminary talks with potential buyers including DoorDash and Uber, Reuters reported, citing a report by The Information. Bloomberg reported that Uber has withdrawn from the talks and that discussions between the two are no longer ongoing. The start of talks does not mean the company has reached an agreement: The Information said there is no guarantee they will lead to a deal. No bid or price for a potential transaction has been announced. The news comes as Instacart reported growth in revenue and activity in the second quarter of 2026.
Competition risks are among the main potential complications for any deal, as Instacart, DoorDash and Uber all offer grocery delivery services. That overlap could prompt scrutiny from antitrust authorities if either platform sought to buy Instacart. The Information reported that Trump administration antitrust officials have shown greater willingness to approve deals with conditions. But that does not rule out an investigation into a deal bringing together direct competitors. The report did not cite analysts describing a potential deal as more likely to win approval.
Instacart’s second-quarter 2026 results showed total revenue of $1.043 billion, up 14% year over year. Gross transaction value was $10.351 billion, up 14% from the same period a year earlier. In the second quarter of 2025, revenue was $914 million and transaction value was $9.081 billion. Orders rose to 90.3 million, an annual increase of 9%. These figures provide a picture of the scale of activity that would feature in any potential negotiations over the company.
Advertising and other revenue totaled $297 million in the second quarter, up 16% year over year. The company also reported net income under U.S. accounting standards of $111 million. Free cash flow was $480 million for the period. The results show that the company’s growth extended to advertising revenue as well as orders and transactions. Chief Executive Chris Rogers said the company had accelerated growth over the previous three quarters, pointing to a strong second quarter and the addition of more customers to the platform.
Instacart says its retail partnership network includes more than 2,200 brands representing nearly 100,000 stores. The network offers context for the company’s scale in the grocery delivery market, where its services overlap with those of the named potential buyers. Any discussion of a potential deal value remains a mathematical estimate based on a hypothetical premium over a market value of about $12 billion, following a correction to the original report. No bid or transaction price has been announced, and there is no guarantee the talks will end in an agreement. The preliminary discussions therefore remain separate from any official acquisition announcement.
Instacart is scheduled to report third-quarter 2026 results after the market closes on November 5. The company will hold an investor call at 5 p.m. Eastern Time that day. It had forecast gross transaction value of between $10.3 billion and $10.55 billion for the quarter, with a midpoint of $10.425 billion. It also estimated adjusted EBITDA of between $320 million and $340 million. The upcoming results will provide an update on the company’s financial activity as potential sale talks remain unresolved.