Amazon to Buy Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion
Imagine being able to get all your Whole Foods necessities—your favorite brand of chia seeds, nutritional yeast, or dulse—via Amazon Prime. That dream may soon become a reality because Amazon plans to acquire the organic grocery store.
The two companies have entered into a merger agreement under which Amazon will purchase Whole Foods for approximately $13.7 billion in cash.
Whole Foods will continue to operate stores under its existing brand and "source from trusted vendors and partners around the world," Amazon says. John Mackey will remain CEO of Whole Foods and the company's headquarters will stay in Austin, Texas.
"Millions of people love Whole Foods Market because they offer the best natural and organic foods, and they make it fun to eat healthy," Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement. "Whole Foods Market has been satisfying, delighting, and nourishing customers for nearly four decades—they're doing an amazing job and we want that to continue."
The acquisition isn't all that strange, considering Amazon is already in the grocery game. The company in December opened a grocery store in Seattle called Amazon Go, where you can grab the items you need and simply walk out of the store when you're done. You scan your phone on the way in, and anything you pick up off store shelves is automatically added to a virtual cart.
Amazon also last month launched its Fresh pickup service, which is aimed at Prime members who would prefer to skip the hassle of roaming the grocery store aisles altogether. The service, which is only available at this point in two Seattle locations, lets you order your groceries online and have them loaded into your car when you pull into the pickup area at a scheduled time.
Plus, Amazon just this week launched the Dash Wand With Alexa, which lets you order groceries via Amazon Fresh with your voice or by scanning a barcode.
This isn't today's only big acquisition. Walmart—a main Amazon competitor—on Friday announced plans to acquire online apparel company Bonobos for $310 million in cash to bolster its e-commerce business.
The last major surprising purchase for Bezos, meanwhile, came in 2013, when he purchased the Washington Post Company, including its flagship national newspaper, for $250 million.
This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
