Jeff Bezos gets his hands on the traditional large-scale retail sector. Amazon will buy Whole Foods Market, a high-end supermarket chain, for $13,7 billion, making it the largest financial transaction ever made by the e-commerce giant.
The announcement of the definitive agreement was made by the founder of Amazon himself who, through a note, praised the US supermarket chain: "Millions of people love Whole foods market because it offers the best organic and natural foods and makes healthy eating" underlining that the supermarket chain "is doing an excellent job and we want this to continue". The offering will be $42 a share, over the $33,06 at which Whole Foods Market stock closed yesterday.
For Amazon, continued the CEO of the US group, "the partnership is an opportunity to maximize the value for Whole Foods shareholders, at the same time expanding Amazon's mission, giving customers the highest quality, experience, convenience and innovation ”.
Current John MacKey, CEO of the supermarket chain who will remain in his post even after the company's transition to Amazon and Whole Foods will continue to manage supermarkets under its own brand. The headquarters will remain in Austin, Texas. The acquisition will now have to be reviewed by the current shareholders of Whole Foods Market and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2017.
Wall Street's reaction to the two stocks seems to be opposite: just a few minutes after the opening of the American Stock Exchange, Amazon shares gain 2,81%, while those of the high-end supermarket chain fall by 6,74% .
