Amazon.com announced Friday that they 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. Amazon will pay $42 a share in cash for the organic-food chain, the companies said on Friday.
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. Amazon 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.
Whole Foods Market will continue to operate stores under the Whole Foods Market brand and source from trusted vendors and partners around the world.