Spotlight on Business Headlines
UBER AGREES TO BUY DRIZLY FOR $1.1 BILLION U ber announced it is acquiring alcohol-delivery service Drizly for $1.1 billion in stock and cash. Founded in 2012, Drizly has become the leading on-demand alcohol delivery service in the U.S. and is available in 1,400 cities. The purchase could help drive people to use Uber’s app more often. Following the completion of the transaction, Drizly’s marketplace will be integrated with the Uber Eats app. The company has said that it will keep the stand- alone Drizly app as well as its own. Uber Eats has been a key segment to Uber’s business amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has dramatically reduced the number of people leaving their homes to dine out. The deal is expected to close within the first half of 2021. Uber said that it anticipates that more than 90% of the consideration to be paid to Drizly shareholders will consist of shares of Uber common stock, and the balance will be paid in cash. TESLA PRESSURED TO RECALL MORE THAN 130,000 CARS F ollowing pressure from U.S. regulators, Tesla recalled 134,951 Model S and Model X vehicles with touchscreen display issues that led to the loss of several safety-related features. The affected cars, made at Tesla’s Fremont, Califor- nia, auto plant, include Tesla Model S sedans made between 2012 and 2018, and Model X SUVs in model years from 2016 to 2018. The recall is related to the vehicle’s display on the media control units (or MCUs) which has been reported to go blank, in part or in whole. The touch- screen issues interfered with drivers’ ability to use heat, air conditioning, defrost and defogging systems in their cars, or to use their rear-view cameras and Tesla Autopilot features while parking and driving. As part of the recall, Tesla will upgrade the eMMC controller part inside the car free of charge. The recall is expected to begin March 30 and, unlike many updates from Tesla, this fix cannot be done remotely or over-the-air.
IMPOSSIBLE FOODS LOWERING PRICES
ONLINE SHOPPING DRIVES STRONG UPS FOURTH-QUARTER EARNINGS The coronavirus pandemic fueled new interest in meat substitutes, as more consumers turned to grocery stores for their food supply and Covid-19 outbreaks in meatpacking plants resulted in some shortages of meat products. R evenue for the Atlanta-based logistics and delivery company jumped 21% to $24.9 billion during the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, a record for UPS as it navigated unprecedented e-commerce sales over the holidays. The company posted revenue of $20.6 billion during the same quarter in 2019. I mpossible Foods is slashing its suggested prices for U.S. grocery stores by 20%, pushing it closer to achieving price parity with the meat it’s trying to replace. Outside of the United States, double-digit price cuts for Impossible products are also being rolled out in grocery stores. This marks the first time that the privately held start-up has lowered its retail prices, but the third time in the last year that the company has perma- nently discounted products. Restaurant distribu- tors received price cuts in 2020 and again this past January. The domestic package division saw a 17.4% increase in year-over-year revenue as its network filled to the brink with packages from online retailers, including Amazon. The results come off of a record-breaking shipping season fueled by the pandemic. Shoppers were tempted with holiday sales as early as October to spread out the number of packages in the system at any one time. In addition to the increase in holiday deliveries, UPS also began shipping Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna to locations all across the U.S. in December, bolstering their health-care delivery businesses.
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FEBRUARY 2021 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • FEBRUARY 2021
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