Amazon on wednesday Said Signed a $3.9 billion deal with primary care provider One Medical.
Last July, Amazon agreed to acquire One Medical to expand its presence in healthcare and “dramatically improve” the experience of getting medical care. Amazon has long had ambitions to expand into the healthcare space, acquiring online pharmacy PillPack for his $750 million in 2018 and launching its own virtual clinic for chronic diseases. Plus, we offer prescription benefits to Prime members.
The deal will give Amazon access to One Medical’s clinics, which have more than 200 physical stores in 26 markets and approximately 815,000 members.
The acquisition is the first major deal announced since CEO Andy Jassy took the helm from founder Jeff Bezos in July 2021, with Jassy seeing healthcare as a key expansion area. indicates that In his statement, he said healthcare is ripe for disruption, citing long appointment times and the complexity of primary care.
“Customers want and deserve better, and that’s what One Medical has been doing and innovating for over a decade,” Jassy said in a statement. Together, we believe we can make the healthcare experience easier, faster, more personal and more convenient for everyone.
Amazon said it will discount One Medical memberships for US users from $199 to $144 for the first year, regardless of whether they are Prime subscribers.
Closing will occur after the deadline for the Federal Trade Commission to contest the transaction has passed. The acquisition has undergone detailed FTC review over the past few months. Last September, the agency sent Amazon and One Medical a so-called second request for more information about the transaction. securities report.
Amazon waited the necessary period to complete the deal, but the FTC may later decide to file a lawsuit to dissolve the merger. The FTC, under chairman Lina Khan, has sent letters to some parties seeking a merger saying they cannot postpone the merger any further because the deadline has passed, but they are still investigating and will be notified by law at a later date. Still, once two companies are formally combined, it is often more difficult in a practical sense to break up the merger.
FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar said: “The Commission has determined that the harm to competition that may result from this merger and the harm to consumers that may result from Amazon’s control and use of confidential consumer health information held by One Medical. We will continue to investigate.”
The FTC has sent both companies a letter warning them to enter into the contract at their own risk, confirming that the FTC still has certain concerns about the deal.
Amazon’s $8.5 billion deal for movie studio MGM also cleared regulatory hurdles last March. The company is still facing ongoing FTC scrutiny of its Prime program and online marketplace. The agency is also considering his $1.65 billion acquisition of Amazon. i robotannounced last year.
Khan is one of Amazon’s biggest critics. She first came to prominence in the antitrust world with an article in the Yale Law Journal in 2017.The Amazon Antitrust ParadoxWritten while she was still a law student, the article argues that the popular antitrust framework focused on consumer welfare is inadequate to assess digital giants like Amazon. bottom.
— CNBC’s Lauren Feiner and Mary Catherine Wellons Contributed to this report.
