Uber To Shut Down Alcohol Delivery App Drizly

(RTTNews) - Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER) has announced that it will be shutting down the alcohol delivery service Drizly by the end of March, three years after acquiring it for $1.1 billion.

Drizly, initially a standalone app facilitating local liquor stores with delivery services, will now be seamlessly integrated into Uber Eats. This move aligns with Uber Eats' broader offering, including alcohol, restaurant food, and grocery deliveries.

In 2020, Drizly faced security breaches when hackers stole the personal information of 2.5 million Drizly customers, leading the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue an order restricting the data Drizly can collect.

Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber's Senior Vice President of Delivery, cited business redundancies and user convenience as the primary factors driving the decision to shut down Drizly.

According to an Uber spokeswoman, customers prefer to order deliveries through a single app. Uber Eats' alcohol category has already doubled worldwide, and alcohol is still delivered by Uber through the Uber Eats app, provided that users confirm their legal drinking age.

There are no current layoffs at Drizly, although it is unclear how many people work there. However, after the alcohol delivery business ends in March, Uber will eliminate some Drizly jobs in addition to jobs at Uber that support Drizly. Some of those workers will receive job offers from Uber based on business needs.