Wal-Mart Will Not Bid Against Amazon For Whole Foods: Report

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is not considering a bid for Whole Foods Market Inc. , the grocery chain that Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to purchase for $13.7 billion, according to a Friday afternoon report. Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source, that Wal-Mart was not actively considering entering a bidding war for the grocery chain, taking out one potential challenge that some investment analysts expected to emerge and drive up the price. Another source told Reuters that Whole Foods had not received any new bids as of Friday. Investors had pushed Whole Foods shares higher than the $42 price Amazon agreed to pay in the hope that a second bidder would result in a higher acquisition price. Whole Foods stock dropped from higher than $43.50 to less than $43 just before the close of trading Friday, as the report hit; shares closed at $42.94.