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Uber is shutting down Drizly, the alcohol delivery service it acquired for $1.1 billion in 2021. The shutdown comes as Uber looks to consolidate its food delivery services all under the Uber Eats brand.
Drizly was originally founded in 2012. The company was acquired by Uber in 2021 when the world was still reeling from the pandemic, lockdowns, and work-from-home orders, while hesitancy about the virus caused Uber to see a drop in the number of customers who used its ride-sharing service. During the early pandemic years, Uber leaned heavily on its delivery services like Uber Eats to supplement its ride-sharing income slowdown. This focus on delivery made Drizly an enticing acquisition for Uber.
While Drizly was one of the most popular alcohol delivery services in America, it wasn’t without controversy. In 2020, the company acknowledged a cyberattack in which around 2.5 million customers had their data compromised thanks to a security flaw that the company had been aware of for two years. After Uber’s purchase of Drizly, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) placed restrictions on what customer data Drizly could collect due to the hack.
As for why the company is shuttering Drizly now, Uber’s SVP of delivery, Dimitri Gore-Coty, told Axios, which first reported the shutdown, “After three years of Drizly operating independently within the Uber family, we’ve decided to close the business and focus on our core Uber Eats strategy of helping consumers get almost anything — from food to groceries to alcohol — all on a single app.”
According to CNN, Drizly will officially shut down by the end of March.
We’ve reached out to Drizly and Uber for comment.
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