Today Amazon announced that it would be buying out Whole Foods Market, Inc. The deal will reportedly cost around $13.7 billion dollars, through the purchase of many $42 shares in the company. This price would include the company’s net value and, according to a press release from Amazon, it’s net debt as well.
It has been confirmed that John Mackey will remain the CEO of Whole Foods and that the quality of the organic food that consumers have come to expect from the company will remain the same, with their headquarters remaining in Texas. According to the statement issued to the press, this junction of two major companies is being done to increase the value of shares to shareholders and to potentially make it easier to access the foods provided by Whole Foods. The merge is expected to be finalized in the third or fourth quarter of 2017.
This combination is also of interest since earlier this year Amazon announced that it would be opening grocery stores, with it’s own special twist. While the checkout-less grocery stores, Amazon Go, have yet to be opened on national scale it is now possible they may have yet another benefit with the potential addition of Whole Foods products.
