DoorDash, Instacart and Washington’s Soft Power

When we got a tip that a public tech company was contemplating a major acquisition that would cost $40 billion to $50 billion, the wheels here at The Information started turning. Was Snap buying Twitter? (Yes, all tech journalists immediately jump to the idea of Twitter going on the block because it sort of always is.) Nah, Twitter would cost more. Was Roblox ready for a sale? That seemed unlikely.

This week, we solved the mystery. DoorDash had been in talks to acquire Instacart in a rush to grab new customers in the food-delivery business. But concerns that the government would never approve—or would severely stall—a merger got in the way. We hear that both sides were quite keen for a deal, making this a clear-cut example of how regulatory pressures are already reshaping the tech industry—even behind the scenes.