Amazon to acquire Whole Foods in $13.7 Billion bet on groceries

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Amazon.com Inc. will acquire Whole Foods Market Inc. in a $13.7 billion deal, marking the biggest transaction ever for the e-commerce giant as it pushes deeper into groceries.

Bloomberg are reporting that Amazon will pay $42 a share in cash for the organic-food chain, the companies said on Friday. John Mackey, Whole Foods’ outspoken co-founder and chief executive officer, will continue to run the business.

Amazon’s biggest acquisition to date came in 2014, when it agreed to buy video-game service Twitch Interactive Inc. for $970 million in cash, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Seattle-based company had about $21.5 billion of cash and equivalents at the end of March, the data show.

“Millions of people love Whole Foods Market because they offer the best natural and organic foods, and they make it fun to eat healthy,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement.