Zohran Mamdani is skeptical of DoorDash’s $17 billion deal for Instacart.
The New York City mayor denounced the proposed acquisition in a post on X on Thursday, hours after the company announced it.
“Corporate consolidation means higher prices, harsher exploitation, and greater economic inequality for New Yorkers,” he wrote.
“We’ve stood up to these giants before,” he added. “That doesn’t stop now.”
DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said on Thursday that the deal would lead to lower prices and faster delivery times for customers, as well as “more earnings” for the gig workers who make deliveries on the apps.
Mamdani also referenced the City’s settlement with DoorDash last month, in which the delivery service agreed to pay $131.5 million to end an investigation into how it paid delivery workers in the city.
The settlement includes returning some of the money to workers. Mamdani and the City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection have taken aim at delivery companies multiple times over the past year, including by enforcing a law requiring the companies to offer customers the option to tip at checkout.
Samuel A.A. Levine, the Department’s commissioner, said that the deal “continues a troubling trend of mega-corporations consolidating while working to divide workers and consumers.”
“Whether or not this merger proceeds, we will fully enforce delivery workers’ rights,” Levine added.
Do you have a story idea about Uber, DoorDash, or Instacart? Contact this reporter at [email protected] or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.
