Deals
Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion
- Deal allows outspoken Whole Foods co-founder to remain CEO
- Activist investor Jana Partners has pushed grocer to seek deal
Amazon Makes Brick and Mortar Play on Groceries
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Amazon.com Inc. will acquire Whole Foods Market Inc. for $13.7 billion, a bombshell of a deal that catapults the e-commerce giant into hundreds of physical stores and fulfills a long-held goal of selling more groceries.
Amazon agreed to pay $42 a share in cash for the organic-food chain, including debt, a roughly 27 percent premium to the stock price at Thursday’s close. John Mackey, Whole Foods’ outspoken co-founder, will continue to run the business -- a victory after a fight with activist investor Jana Partners that threatened to drive him from power.