Amazon has made its biggest acquisition ever: Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. That number includes Whole Foods' net debt:
The deal, expected to close in the second half of this year, gives the e-commerce giant — which has been experimenting with various physical store concepts to make itself a name as a food purveyor — an instant expanse of 460 high-end brick-and-mortar stores across the U.S., in Canada and in the U.K.
Whole Foods, which made its name retailing organic and fresh products, had been struggling recently amid stepped-up competition from Costco Wholesale, Trader Joe's and other grocers.
Shares of Whole Foods rose ahead of the acquisition while analysts speculated that other grocery retailers would snap up Whole Foods to keep it away from Amazon, or at least drive up the price.
Groceries are low margin and high cost businesses. This acquisition may be seen as part of a long-running war between Amazon and Walmart.
Will the shelves of Whole Paycheck be stocked by Amazonk's mighty robotic Prometheans? I think I'll shop at ALDI instead.
Previously: Walmart Plays Catch-Up With Amazon
Walmart Kills Amazon Prime-like Service, Expands Free Shipping
Amazon Shuts Down Diapers.com as Founder Runs Walmart's E-Commerce Operations
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @03:52AM
It depends what you're looking to buy. Most things they sell are grossly overpriced, but there are good deals to be had on things like bulk herbs if you're paying attention.
The big problem they had was that they were asking more than the competition and weren't really giving anything that other stores couldn't eventually provide. Early on they were sort of specialish in that their main competition was farmer's markets, but without the dirty hippies.