Whole Foods Shareholders Approve, FTC Clears $13.7B Amazon Deal [Updated]
By Lauren Elkies Schram August 23, 2017 12:21 pm
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Whole Foods Market confirmed that this morning its shareholders approved the organic grocery store chain’s proposed $13.7 billion sale to Amazon.com.
The all-cash deal is slated to close later this year. This afternoon, the Federal Trade Commission said that it would not pursue action against the deal, as Observer reported.
Seattle-based Amazon announced its plans to buy the Austin-based Whole Foods, with its more than 460 Whole Foods stores, in June.
“Whole Foods Market has been satisfying, delighting and nourishing customers for nearly four decades—they’re doing an amazing job and we want that to continue,” Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said in a press release at the time.
While the national impact of an Amazon-Whole Foods deal is unclear, Commercial Observer reported last month that long-time supermarket chain operators are desperately looking for ways to tweak the old model.
Whole Foods declined to comment.
Update: This story has been edited to include the Federal Trade Commission decision not to dig deeper into the deal.
