Uber to buy Drizly in $1.1 billion deal

Uber Technologies Inc will acquire Drizly, the on-demanded alcohol delivery app, for $1.1 billion in stock and cash, the companies announced Tuesday.

San Francisco-based Uber, which offers restaurant delivery through Uber Eats, and Boston-based Drizly said the alcohol-delivery platform will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Uber. Drizly’s marketplace will eventually be integrated with the Uber Eats app and maintain its own app as well, the companies said.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement: “Wherever you want to go and whatever you need to get, our goal at Uber is to make people’s lives a little bit easier. That’s why we’ve been branching into new categories like groceries, prescriptions and, now, alcohol.”

Drizly was designed to comply with local regulations in more than 1,400 cities across a majority of U.S. states. It works with local merchants to provide consumers with a selection of beer, wine and spirits at competitive prices.

“Drizly has spent the last eight years building the infrastructure, technology and partnerships to bring the consumer a shopping experience they deserve,” said Cory Rellas, CEO and co-founder of Drizly.

The companies said Drizly merchants will benefit from Uber’s routing technology and consumer base. Uber’s rewards and subscription programs will eventually be integrated into Drizly, they indicated.

Related:Uber rolls into online grocery delivery arena

Uber expects more than 90% of the deal’s consideration to be paid to Drizly stockholders in shares of Uber common stock, with the balance to be paid in cash.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions and is expected to close within the first half of this year.

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