On Tuesday the Uber share price popped by a nice 7% on the news that they bought alcohol delivery company Drizly. Uber paid $1.1 billion in a combination of cash and shares for the business.
This is all part of Uber's new focus of being a delivery company, be that people, food, booze, groceries, long-haul trucking or prescription medication. It makes sense. The hard part of a platform business is building the platform and getting the customers, Uber has done both already. So to make small acquisitions to increase the product offering is a good way to push growth.
In the case of Drizly, it will still operate as a stand-alone app and be incorporated into Uber Eats, giving it instantly millions of extra users. What I want to see now is for Uber to use their network of cars and bikes to offer a cheap and short distance delivery system. It would be great if you could send small packages across town for a low fee.
I'm pleased to say Uber is within 5% of its all-time high. Onwards and upwards.