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DoorDash sees strong quarterly growth in sales and orders but warns of big costs

DoorDash said Wednesday its revenue rose 38% in the fourth quarter as it gained new U.S. customers and added new services like restaurant reservations.

Investors cheered that growth, sending DoorDash’s stock up more than 13% in after-hours trading.

But the San Francisco-based delivery company also warned of costly investments ahead. DoorDash CEO and Co-founder Tony Xu said DoorDash is in the midst of building a single tech platform that will bring together its many international businesses. DoorDash bought Wolt, a Finnish delivery service, in 2022, and it acquired Deliveroo, a U.K. rival, last year.

Xu said the majority of the tech platform will be completed this year, and even before it’s complete, the company will save money and time because it will be able to roll out updates to all of its markets at once. But in the meantime, Xu called the new platform “a massive and expensive undertaking.”

“I wish that the tech stack were already here,” Xu said during a conference call with investors Thursday.

DoorDash said it expects adjusted pretax earnings between $675 million and $775 million in the first quarter, which was lower than the $800.6 million Wall Street was expecting, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

DoorDash also spent heavily during the fourth quarter on multiple projects, including the development of autonomous robot delivery and drone delivery. Its research and development costs rose 41%, for example, while its sales and marketing costs jumped 31%.

DoorDash’s net income rose 51% to $213 million, or 49 cents per share. That was lower than the 59-cent profit Wall Street anticipated.

DoorDash reported revenue of $3.96 billion for the October-December period. That was also less than the $3.99 billion that analysts forecast.

Still, total orders rose 32% to 903 million, beating analysts’ forecast of 884.8 million, according to FactSet. DoorDash said it had more than 56 million active users during the quarter, including 35 million members paying monthly fees to be part of its DashPass, Wolt+ and Deliveroo Plus programs.

Xu said customers have always used DoorDash for quick, mid-week orders. But the company is increasingly seeing customers use DoorDash for bigger weekend grocery trips as well. DoorDash and Kroger, the largest U.S. grocery chain, expanded their delivery partnership last fall.

Grandfather recovering from surgery after bison attack at Yellowstone sent him flying

(CNN) — What started as a yearly trip for a grandfather and his grandson turned into a visit to a Montana hospital after a bison attack at Yellowstone National Park.Carl McDaniel, 65, was hospitalized with a broken femur after a bison charged and tossed him into the air Friday evening at the park’s Bridge Bay Campground, according to McDaniel and the National Park Service.He was visiting the park with his 13-year-old grandson when they decided to take a walk after dinner.Along the way, they encountered a large bison that appeared to be rolling around in the dust and was not bothering anyone, McDaniel told CNN.“We were about a hundred yards away,” McDaniel said. “He was not aggressive; he was not having problems and we took some pictures and decided to walk on.”McDaniel and his grandson snapped a quick photo and continued with their walk, video of the encounter shows. At the same time, a truck drove by, and the driver laid on his horn in what appeared to be an attempt to get the bison to move, McDaniel said. There is no audio on the video.The bison then appeared to become agitated and began running toward the pair.“There was little time to decide what to do. At that point, he was within 100 yards; he could be to us in seconds, so I told my grandson to run in one direction and I went the other to try and draw him away,” McDaniel said.The animal then pushed McDaniel with the top of its head, sending him flying into the air before he hit the ground, the grandfather said.“When I was on the ground immobile, unable to move, he was right on top of me. He could have stomped on me, he could have gored me, he could have done almost anything to take my life, and he did not do so,” McDaniel said.After McDaniel hit the ground, photographer Mike MacLeod, who captured the encounter on video, had to step in, he told Cowboy State Daily.“I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible,” MacLeod said.After the bison took off, people rushed over to McDaniel, who was in a lot of pain, MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. Yellowstone EMS arrived soon after, he said.“Park emergency medical personnel responded and transported him to a nearby hospital,” the National Park Service said in confirming the incident in a statement to CNN.This is the second bison attack at Yellowstone this year. A 12-year-old was injured near Mud Volcano on June 26, according to the agency.After Friday’s attack, “all the people that were there were amazing; they were all positive, they were trying to help as best they could,” McDaniel said. A nurse started tending to his leg, while another bystander held his head.He was then transferred to a hospital in Bozeman, a two-hour journey during which he was in intense pain. He said he was grateful for the paramedic who helped him along the way.McDaniel broke his femur, the body’s strongest bone, in four places near his hip and suffered several bruises. He had surgery Sunday and could stand by Monday.“I will be doing physical therapy for the next few days to get to walk, but it was not as catastrophic as it could have been,” McDaniel said.The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from bison at all times and to never approach the animals. “If the bison follows you, spray bear spray as you are moving away, and seek cover behind nearby trees or cars,” the agency said.Correction: An earlier version of this story understated how far visitors should stay away from bison. The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards from them.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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