Source: About Amazon
This week, e-commerce company Amazon went ahead to give a nod to purchasing essential healthcare facility One Medical for the sum of $3.49 billion. This is as the company focusses on its expansion to virtual healthcare, along with finally integrating traditional doctors’ chambers. This agreement would mark the combination of a couple of somewhat minor players. This as the retail giant extends its plans to get into healthcare, hoping to facilitate faster growth.
The first time the shopping site got into virtual healthcare visits for the employees was about three years ago in Seattle. Notably, this was prior to their offers of facilities to the employers which come from the Amazon Care brand. Similarly, it acquired PillPack, a pharmacy a year prior to that. This led to Amazon establishing a site dedicated to prescription deliveries.
The senior VP of Amazon Health Services, Neil Lindsay stated how the company considered healthcare to be a type of sector which they need to reinvent even further. It indicated how it aims to refine and ramp up care facilities, both virtual and in person.
This deal would mark the acquisition of a loss ridden One Medical by Amazon. The healthcare has a workforce of 767,000, counting clients like search giant Google and Airbnb, as specified by its officials site.
Reaction to the deal:
Following the agreement, US Senator Amy Klobuchar pushed an investigation from the FTC- Federal Trade Commission into the deal proposal from the company. She reportedly worried regarding implication on the collaboration regarding health information. She gave in a statement regarding the concerns pointing out how the retail giant had previously given rise to ‘anti competitive concerns’ through its deals.
Not long ago, the care sector of the company ramped up accessibility of its virtual care all over the US, coming up with the option to enable house call for a handful of cities. During the lockdown, Amazon saw a significant growth in the demand for its facilities with clients coming one by one.
One Medical would provide the retail giant with as much as 188 doctors’ offices, and would witness the departure of the Carlyle Group as the deal closes. The agreement includes Amazon paying $18 per share of the firm, up about 76.8% from the last close of the facility, with its shares trading at $17.12. The valuation of the deal stands at $3.9 at this point.
