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DoorDash shares slid as much as 19 per cent on Wednesday following weaker than expected third-quarter profits and big increases to its spending plan on tech upgrades next year.
The food and grocery delivery app said it generated net income of $244mn in the third quarter, below expectations of $295mn, according to forecasts compiled by Visible Alpha.
DoorDash said it planned to spend “several hundred million dollars” more next year than it did in 2025 on initiatives including a technology platform, encompassing its global brands Wolt and Deliveroo. Its financial outlook for the fourth quarter was also lower than expected.
Tony Xu, DoorDash’s chief executive, said the investment would enable the company to push software updates across all three platforms. He said this would generate efficiencies compared with individual updates undertaken at present.
“This has been an effort that [has been] under way for a few years now, but it’s actually coming to a head where we’re making the majority of investments in 2026.”
DoorDash shares recovered some of their losses to trade 9 per cent lower after-hours.
Profits fell short despite the value of orders placed on the platform growing 25 per cent year on year to $25bn, ahead of estimates of $24.6bn.
DoorDash, which operates in more than 40 countries, said it experienced strong growth in monthly active users, adding nearly twice as many customers in the US in 2025 as last year.
It said growth and investment in its tech would come at the expense of short-term costs.
“We wish there was a way to grow a baby into an adult without investment, or to see the baby grow into an adult overnight, but we do not believe this is how life or business works,” DoorDash said in its earnings release.
The company said the UK’s Deliveroo, which it acquired this year for £2.9bn, would contribute roughly $45mn in adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation in the fourth quarter. It expects the platform will contribute about $200mn in the coming year.
DoorDash said Deliveroo’s contribution for next year was $32mn to $40mn lower than prior estimates, after “aligning our accounting treatment and definitions”.
Xu also highlighted investments in autonomous technology after the company unveiled a four-wheeled delivery robot, named Dot, at the end of September. Last month it outlined a partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxi service to deliver food and groceries in Phoenix.
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