Online retail giant Amazon will add yet another company to its growing portfolio of acquisitions. Today, Bloomberg confirmed that the company will acquire the grocery chain Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The move increases Amazon's push into the grocery business, a space it has been interested in since at least 1999, when it bought a stake in HomeGrocer.com. In 2007 Amazon began piloting a grocery delivery service called AmazonFresh. It has since started opening physical stores called Amazon Go.
As part of the Whole Foods deal, John Mackey, Whole Foods’ eccentric co-founder, will stay on as CEO.
In a statement, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had nothing but praise for Whole Foods, saying, “Millions of people love Whole Foods Market because they offer the best natural and organic foods, and they make it fun to eat healthy.”
