Uber Buys Alcohol E-Commerce Giant Drizly For $1.1 Billion

Uber has already established itself as a delivery and transport titan with its ridesharing and UberEats apps. It’s now going big in the alcohol space, as a new partnership poises it to become the largest alcohol delivery service in the country.

The tech behemoth just bought Drizly, an e-commerce drinks platform once known as the “Amazon of Alcohol,” for $1.1 billion. According to a press release, this deal will include the integration of Drizly onto the UberEats app, although Drizly’s independent app will also remain operational.

Uber will also begin to introduce perks and deals through Drizly once their purchase officially closes, which is expected to happen by the middle of 2021.

By acquiring Drizly, Uber is shaping itself as one of the kingpins in the food delivery oligarchy. They also own Postmates, meaning that DoorDash, Grubhub, and other delivery players are facing massive competition that just got a whole lot bigger.

It’s also unclear what this will mean for delivery drivers on both platforms. Uber did increase fees on its customers now that California has Prop 22 enacted, so we’ll have to see see if Drizly’s acquisition will result in a similar change for the alcohol app.