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Whole Foods shareholders approve Amazon deal


Source: Sustainable Food News

Shareholders of Whole Foods Market, Inc. on Wednesday morning voted to approve the company's $13.7 billion in cash acquisition by online retail giant Amazon.com Inc.

John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of the Austin, Texas-based organic and natural grocery chain of 465 stores, who stands to gain nearly $9 million in the transaction, will continue to run the company after the deal closes, expected by the end of the year but contingent on the approval of antitrust regulators.

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The proposed acquisition, which was first announced in June, would have Amazon paying Whole Foods' shareholders $42 per share.

Whole Foods' stock was trading Wednesday at $41.71 just after the vote. The shares have a 52-week range between $27.67 and $43.84. Whole Foods has a market cap of $13.4 billion.

Seattle-based Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), with $136 billion in annual sales, said the deal to acquire the world's largest organic and natural grocery chain for $42 per share, a 27 percent premium on WFM's closing stock price Thursday, includes the net debt of WFM, which has $15.8 billion in annual sales.

Amazon said Austin, Texas-based WFM (NASDAQ:WFM), which was the first national certified-organic grocer, will continue to operate from its headquarters and its stores in North America and Britain will remain under the Whole Foods Market brand.

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Under the terms of the deal, WFM would be obligated to pay a $400 million fee if it terminates the merger agreement, according to a securities filing.

 

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