NEW YORK: Uber has announced the closure of Drizly, the US alcohol delivery service it acquired for $1.1 billion in 2021.
The decision comes three years after the acquisition, with Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber’s senior vice president of delivery, citing a focus on Uber Eats’ “core strategy” as the driving force behind the move.
Uber has integrated Drizly’s diverse selection of beer, wine and spirits into its Eats app, giving consumers a comprehensive range of options.
Despite this integration, Drizly maintained a separate app that offered users a dedicated alcohol delivery platform.
“After three years of operating Drizly independently within the Uber family, we’ve decided to exit the business and focus on our core strategy of Uber Eats, which helps consumers get almost anything—from food to groceries to alcohol—all in one app,” said Gore- Coty and expressed gratitude to the Drizly team for their contributions to the growth of the beverage and alcohol delivery category.
The decision to shut down Drizly raises questions about potential cybersecurity issues in light of the previous Drizly incident in 2020.
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The breach exposed the information of 2.5 million customers, and after the Uber acquisition, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found that Drizly CEO James Cory Rellas had been alerted to security issues as early as 2018.
The FTC concluded that Drizly failed to implement adequate security measures to allow the data breach. As a result, the FTC ordered Drizly to destroy irrelevant personal data and instructed Rellas to implement robust information security programs in any future CEO role.
The exact role of cybersecurity concerns in Uber’s decision remains unclear, but the company appears determined to continue with alcohol delivery services through its core Uber Eats platform.
The closure of Drizly represents a key moment in Uber’s strategic evolution and underscores its commitment to refining and enhancing its core service offerings.
