DoorDash has told its employees not to add Instacart staff on LinkedIn while its $17 billion acquisition of the grocery delivery company waits for approval. The instruction sits in an internal question-and-answer document that DoorDash filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 29, the day the deal was announced. When employees ask if they can connect with Instacart colleagues on LinkedIn, the answer is short: “Not at this time.”The rule works both ways. DoorDash staff cannot send new connection requests to Instacart workers or accept theirs, “even if you have a prior relationship.” Existing connections can stay. If someone from Instacart does reach out, the company has a ready-made reply: “Congrats! Looking forward to connecting after the deal closes.” Anything beyond that needs a nod from the legal team. The deal is expected to close at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028, so the freeze could last up to 20 months.
DoorDash’s LinkedIn ban is meant to stop ‘gun-jumping’ before the Instacart deal closes
Until the paperwork is done, DoorDash and Instacart are still competitors, and the law expects them to act like it. Antitrust lawyers call it gun-jumping when merging companies behave as if a deal has already closed. The US Federal Trade Commission has warned that companies in a pending merger must protect sensitive information such as pricing, costs and business strategy. Sharing it too early could break antitrust laws and push up prices before regulators have even ruled.Chris Selland, a lecturer at Northeastern University, sees the LinkedIn rule as protection against “poaching and org-chart mapping in case the deal is ultimately blocked.” In that case, the two would go back to being rivals. DoorDash staff can still apply for Instacart jobs, but only the way any outside candidate would.Selland calls the policy a clearly worded guardrail rather than a heavy-handed ban, one that keeps employees from straying into talk about job openings, pay or shared accounts. He also concedes that a single LinkedIn connection “likely won’t blow up a deal on its own.”
DoorDash’s caution reflects the antitrust scrutiny ahead for the Instacart deal
Limits on contact between merging companies are not new. In 2018, defence contractor SAIC told staff not to contact workers at Engility, which it was acquiring, without clearance from its integration team. DoorDash has simply taken the idea to LinkedIn.The stakes explain the care. DoorDash is paying $65 a share, a 26% premium to Instacart’s October 22 closing price, and the total is more than the $13.7 billion in revenue it reported last year. Card data from Consumer Edge puts DoorDash at 59% of US delivery app spending, while Instacart’s share has slipped from 26% to 18% in five years. The deal still needs Instacart shareholder approval and antitrust clearance in the US, Canada and Israel. Regulators have stepped in on grocery before: a federal judge blocked Kroger’s $24.6 billion bid for Albertsons in 2024.Until those approvals arrive, a DoorDash employee’s reply to an Instacart colleague stays limited to one line of congratulations.