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The call emphasized strong demand and market-share momentum (all-time high MAUs, record subscription engagement, record ads revenue, international acceleration), clear progress on strategic investments (replatforming, AI, autonomy, new verticals) and an intact full-year EBITDA outlook. Short-term headwinds include weather-related GOV impact (~1%), the one-off/near-term cost of the gas rewards program (~$50M per quarter in Q1/Q2), and redundant replatforming costs running through 2026. Management repeatedly highlighted that new initiatives are early but trending well and that they have plans to offset temporary costs. Overall, the positive operational trends, scaling monetization, and on-track strategic investments outweigh the manageable near-term costs and execution risks.
The company reiterated targeted investments and financial expectations for 2026, including a $100 million reinvestment into the global tech platform, near‑term OpEx roughly in the ~2% range, and that the bulk of redundant replatforming costs will run through 2026 (with some bleed into early 2027) as production traffic ramps; it said gas‑reward support cost ~$50 million in Q1 and is expected to be roughly $50 million in Q2 (with no decision yet on extension and offsets to be found), winter storms shaved about 1% from year‑over‑year GOV in Q1, and management continues to expect full‑year 2026 EBITDA margins slightly higher than 2025 excluding RUE (with RUE expected to produce roughly ~$200 million of EBITDA), second‑half EBITDA and margins to be higher than first half, new verticals trending to be gross‑profit positive in H2, MAUs at all‑time highs with about 30% of MAUs ordering outside restaurants, record subscription and ad engagement, and that “well north of half” (closer to two‑thirds) of code is now written by AI.
MAUs reached an all-time high, order frequency is growing, subscription (DashPass and other membership programs) delivered a record quarter, and member growth accelerated year-over-year. Management noted they are gaining share in the majority of markets and that new verticals continue to drive adoption.
Ads revenue is at a record high and growing very quickly. Management reported expansion into CPG and larger advertisers, improved advertiser ROI, and a low ad-load consumer experience — contributing positively to margins and monetization.
Deliveroo is experiencing its highest growth rate in four years with month-by-month re-acceleration; Bolt is showing its highest share performance in each country of operation. Management cited strong international share gains and growth near historical highs across geographies.
The $100 million investment in the global tech infrastructure is on track: domain mapping is complete, production traffic is flowing, early benefits are visible (increased feature velocity and quality). Management expects majority of replatforming work to run through 2026 with benefits for cross-brand feature releases and engineering velocity.
New verticals are trending toward gross profit positivity in the second half of 2026. Approximately 30% of monthly active users ordered from categories outside restaurants (Q4 reference), and cohort basket sizes and order rates are improving, supporting improving unit economics.
DoorDash became volume share leader in grocery last fall and continues to expand grocery partners and improve selection and accuracy. Management highlighted multiple operational improvements (selection, price, accuracy) driving cohort expansion and higher basket sizes.
Autonomy program (Dot) has been launched in a couple of markets and is scaling; management reported 'good results' and progress on hardening systems for scale (hardware, remote ops, regulatory). Dasher Fulfillment Service pilots are live with several grocery/retail partners as the company works to improve inventory/fulfillment for grocery.
Management reported substantial productivity gains from AI (stating well north of half to ~two-thirds of code is written by AI today), and is using AI for merchant onboarding, support, and internal tools — improving speed and execution of repetitive tasks.
CFO reiterated full-year 2026 EBITDA view: overall EBITDA margins for 2026 expected to be slightly higher vs. 2025 (excluding RUE), with RUE projected to contribute roughly $200 million of EBITDA. Management expects second-half EBITDA to be higher than first half.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us, and welcome to the DoorDash, Inc. Q1 2026 earnings call. After today’s opening statement, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press 1 again. I will now hand the call over to Weston Twigg. Weston, please go ahead.
Alright. Thank you, Elizabeth. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us for our Q1 2026 earnings call. I am pleased to be joined today by Co-Founder, Chair and CEO, Tony Xu, and CFO, Ravi Inukonda. We will be making forward-looking statements during today’s call, including, without limitation, our expectations for our business, financial position, operating performance, profitability, our guidance, strategies, capital allocation approach, and the broader economic environment. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described. Many of these uncertainties are described in our SEC filings, including our most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements as predictions of future events or performance.
We disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law. During this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. Information regarding our non-GAAP financial measures, including a reconciliation of such non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, may be found in our earnings release, which i...