Uber to Buy Drizly On-Demand Alcohol Company for $1.1 Billion, Stock Surges

Shares of Uber Technologies Inc. UBER rallied 5.3% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the ride-hailing company announced an agreement to buy on-demand alcohol marketplace Drizly for $1.1 billion in stock and cash. Uber said it expects that more than 90% of the payment to Drizly shareholders will be in Uber stock. The deal is expected to close within the first half of 2021, after which Drizly will become a wholly owned subsidiary. “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,” said Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi. “That’s why we’ve been branching into new categories like groceries, prescriptions and, now, alcohol.” Uber’s stock has soared 51.6% over the past three months through Monday, while the S&P 500 has gained 14.0%.