SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon announced Thursday it will acquire the primary care organization One Medical in a deal valued roughly at $3.9 billion, marking another expansion for the retailer into health care services.
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said in a statement it will acquire One Medical for $18 per share in an all-cash transaction. It marks one of Amazon’s biggest acquisitions, following its $13.7 billion deal to buy Whole Foods in 2017 and its $8.5 billion purchase of Hollywood studio MGM, which closed earlier this year.
One Medical, whose parent company is the San Francisco-based 1Life Healthcare, Inc., is a membership-based service that offers patients in-person and virtual doctor visits. As of this March, it had about 767,000 members and 188 medical offices in 25 markets, according to its first-quarter earnings report, which also showed the company had incurred net losses of $90.9 million after pulling in $254.1 million in revenue.
Neil Lindsay, the senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, said in a statement the acquisition is geared toward reinventing the healthcare “experience” for things like booking an appointment and taking trips to the pharmacy.
“We love inventing to make what should be easy easier and we want to be one of the companies that helps dramatically improve the health care experience over the next several years,” Lindsay said.
Business & Tech Reporter Shibani Joshi spoke to NewsNation’s “Rush Hour” about the acquisition.
This is just Amazon’s latest multibillion dollar move. At what point, is the company becoming too big or too powerful?
“This latest acquisition is extending the company’s footprint in healthcare. That has industry watchers and tech watchers asking the same question: Is Amazon getting too big? If you ask the company and if you look at anti-trust laws, the laws are meant to ensure fair competition, but it has to be carefully applied because if you look into the sliver of healthcare that Amazon is playing in, Amazon doesn’t have a big footprint in the healthcare industry,” Joshi said.
Amazon’s latest acquisition furthers the company’s foray into providing health care services. In 2020, the retail colossus opened an online drug store that allows customers to order medication or prescription refills, and have them delivered to their front door in a couple of days. Last year, it began offering its Amazon Care telemedicine program to employers nationwide.
In morning trading, shares of 1Life Healthcare surged 68% to $17.13.