A Boston-based e-commerce alcohol company that was acquired by Uber Technologies Inc. two years ago laid off workers company-wide this week.
Drizly confirmed to BostInno that it had eliminated about 100 positions across the company’s departments. The Boston company said these layoffs were made as a result of a corporate restructuring as Drizly officially began integrating its operations into Uber.
“This is a hard week. Those team members who are leaving us have been a huge part of Drizly, and we have a deep gratitude for all their contributions. We will build on the foundations that they established as we move forward with the shared Drizly and Uber visions for alcohol,” Drizly said in a statement.
The company added that these “tough decisions” are necessary “to secure Drizly’s future and lay the foundation for the long-term success of both brands and our combined businesses.”
Uber’s acquisition of Drizly in 2021 was intended to further its alcohol delivery capabilities. The deal was worth $1.1 billion in stock and cash and meant that Drizly became a wholly owned subsidiary of Uber.
Drizly was founded in 2012 and raised its first round of capital in 2014. In 2020, then-CEO Cory Rellas told the Business Journal that Drizly was profitable at that time, and had 220 employees.
Earlier this year, Drizly COO Cathy Lewenberg stepped into the CEO role. A spokesperson for Drizly confirmed that in January, Rellas officially moved over to Uber as the new global head of BevAlc.
Last year the Federal Trade Commission took action against Drizly and Rellas over allegations that the company’s security failures led to a data breach exposing the personal information of about 2.5 million consumers. The FTC settled the matter with both parties earlier this year.
The month after news of Drizly’s acquisition was announced in 2021, the company moved its headquarters to the Back Bay. The plan was to hire 100 new employees in 2021.
Drizly did not disclose how many employees it had prior to the layoffs.
The company said it was placing employees impacted by the layoffs on a six-week paid administrative leave so their pay, benefits and vesting would continue until mid-May. After the administrative leave period, employees will receive four weeks of severance pay, plus two weeks for every year of service with Drizly. Drizly will also cover health insurance costs for two months after the administrative leave. The company also plans to provide outplacement services.
Drizly is the latest tech company to make layoffs in 2023, joining companies like Workhuman and Hometap that recently reduced the size of their teams.
