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

Seattle & Austin, Texas, USA - June 16, 2017

• Whole Foods Market ranked #28 and Amazon ranked #2 on Fortune’s 2017 list of World’s Most Admired Companies

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire Whole Foods Market for $42 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $13.7 billion, including Whole Foods Market’s net debt.

Jeffrey P. Bezos President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. Photo courtesy of Amazon

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

John Mackey, Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO. Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market

“This partnership presents an opportunity to maximize value for Whole Foods Market’s shareholders, while at the same time extending our mission and bringing the highest quality, experience, convenience and innovation to our customers,” said John Mackey, Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO.

Whole Foods Market will continue to operate stores under the Whole Foods Market brand and source from trusted vendors and partners around the world.

Whole Foods Market in Oklahoma City, USA. Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market

John Mackey will remain as CEO of Whole Foods Market and Whole Foods Market’s headquarters will stay in Austin, Texas.

Whole Foods Market store in Pasadena, Calif., USA. Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market

Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by Whole Foods Market's shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Whole Foods Market in Rockville, Md., USA. Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market

The parties expect to close the transaction during the second half of 2017.

Whole Foods Market store in Venice, Calif., USA. Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking.

Photo courtesy of Amazon

Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.

For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about  

and follow @AmazonNews.


About Whole Foods Market

Founded in 1978 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market is the leading natural and organic foods supermarket, the first national “Certified Organic” grocer, and uniquely positioned as America’s Healthiest Grocery Store™.

Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market

In fiscal year 2016, the Company had sales of approximately $16 billion and has more than 460 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Whole Foods Market employs approximately 87,000 team members and has been ranked for 20 consecutive years as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America by Fortune magazine.

For more information, please visit www.WholeFoodsMarket.com  

or @WholeFoods on Twitter.

Whole Foods Market in New Orleans, USA. Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market

Contacts:

Amazon.com, Inc.

Media Hotline
Amazon-pr@amazon.com  
www.amazon.com/pr  

or

Whole Foods Market

Brooke Buchanan, 512-542-0751
Brooke.buchanan@wholefoods.com  

JEFF BEZOS’ EMAIL TO EMPLOYEES
ON AMAZON’S PURCHASE OF WHOLE FOODS

June 16, 2017

Jeffrey P. Bezos President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. Photo courtesy of Amazon

Team,

Today is a significant milestone in the evolution of the Amazon brand.
Our offer to purchase Whole Foods will finally consolidate the largest online and off-line retailers where consumers end up spending way more than they intended.
I actually didn’t even mean to buy Whole Foods but after downing a few too many boilermakers at the Echo mixer last night, I accidentally clicked BUY IT NOW instead of just putting the grocery chain in my cart for future consideration.

Oh well, you know what they say — you can’t log off Amazon without spending $13.7 billion.
So true!

Further details about the merger will be forthcoming, but I wanted to call out a few major points before we have to go silent and get this approved by regulators.

• Our corporate cultures are perfectly aligned.
The New York Times revealed that every Amazon employee has cried at their desk, and I personally made a Whole Foods employee cry when they couldn’t correctly identify their process for ensuring single-source coffee beans throughout the roasting process.
It was an uncomfortable 38 minutes for both of us, but I think an experience so many of you can relate to.

• Improved Echo functionality.
Whole Foods has maintained a laser-like focus on organic foods and sustainable facilities and I’m excited to bring that same vision to Echo.
Starting next week, when customers ask their Echo to order non-organic food products they’ll receive a 12-minute lecture on the benefits of organic and local-sourced products while our top-notch product matching software will send them the closest available organic item.
Users on our website will find the “Customers Also Bought…” section replacing unhealthy items with notes such as, “Cookies That Went Straight to Their Thighs” and “Beef Produced By Clear-Cutting Rainforest.” Needless to say, those products will not be available for purchase.

• Drone changes.
All Amazon drone teams will immediately switch to bio-fuels rather than battery packs.

• Senior leadership.
Once the acquisition is complete, John Mackey will take a new position as Financial Analyst and Social Media Community Outreach for the Washington Post.
Synergy!

• Location changes.
Since Whole Foods is headquartered in Austin, Texas, I’ve asked EM to build the first hyperloop route between our offices here in Seattle and the Blue Bubble of Texas.
All Amazon/Whole Foods employees will office in Austin for the one week of good weather they have in late February, and in Seattle for the one week of sunshine we have in August (or May… or October… or whenever).
The remaining 50 weeks of the year are up to you.
Because I believe all Amazon employees should be free to cry at their desk no matter where that desk is located.

• Product expansions.
Amazon will soon carry all of the 365-branded products Whole Foods has developed and all Whole Foods stores will be adding aisles for garden equipment, household electronics, sportswear, handbags, pet supplies, golf clubs, video games, plumbing supplies, luggage, headphones, and climbing gear. To start.

• Cruelty free.
We will be adopting Whole Foods policy of only purchasing products that are certified cruelty free.
Please note this does not apply to any software we develop ourselves.

I am beyond excited by the possibilities of this merger moving forward and I hope the team feels the same.
The combination of our two companies will account for over 85% of all hipster purchases in the United States. I’m looking forward to capturing the remaining 15%.

Now, I need your daily status updates and you aren’t excused for being late from reading this.

— Jeff

Photo courtesy of LinkedIn

Sources:

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/  

Whole Foods Market

http://media.wholefoodsmarket.com/news/  



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