EWS: Uber is officially shutting down the alcohol delivery business, Drizly, that they acquired for $1.1b just three years ago, according to a source at Axios.
Uber acquired Drizly just three years ago as it was building it's food delivery empire, which looked to be a good acquisition after the high delivery volumes resulting from COVID lockdowns. Some of our own clients saw returns on their ad spend as high as 40x during peak lockdowns.
After the acquisition, key leadership was moved from Drizly to Uber corporate, their Denver offices left vacant and many liquor store clients looking for ways to promote their own liquor delivery services. This left Uber in a difficult position to find a way to make the delivery service profitable.
In 2022, the FTC also took action against then CEO James Corey Rellas for a data breach that compromised the information of an estimated 2.5 million clients.
"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," said Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber's SVP of delivery.
Cathy Lewenberg, CEO, shared her heartwarming appreciation of her team on LinkedIn Tuesday morning.
Science In Advertising offers advertising support to liquor stores.
