Amazon's most expensive acquisitions 2024
The acquisition of Whole Foods Market by Amazon in 2017 is the biggest company take-over by Bezos's corporation to date, with a whopping tag price of 13.7 billion U.S. dollars. This acquisition was a move to expand the company's online grocery business. Since 2018, Amazon Prime subscribers can benefit from exclusive deals on their grocery orders from Whole Foods – although free delivery has been restricted since October 2021.
From online to brick-and-mortar
Amazon did not settle with Whole Foods – a grocery chain focusing on high-price and organic products – and launched its own-brand dollar supermarket Amazon Fresh, posing some risks as the two brands might have competed. Subsequent analyses comparing Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market showed that the two stores targeted quite different consumer bases. However, in terms of in-store footfall and dwell time, Amazon Fresh quantitatively outdid Whole Foods.
Where is Amazon investing next?
Out of the fast-moving consumer goods realm, Amazon’s last operation involved the healthcare company One Medical, acquired for 3.9 billion U.S. dollars in July 2022. Behind the deal with the digital healthcare providermight be/may lie an already well-established subscription model very suitable for the e-commerce business.
Lastly, in August 2022, Amazon announced the acquisition of iRobot, the manufacturer of the Roomba robot vacuum cleaners, as well as the undisputed global leader of this home appliances’ market niche. The deal was scrapped in January 2024.
