Deals
How Bezos’s Grocery Shopping Shakes Up an $800 Billion Industry
- Amazon purchase of Whole Foods challenges Wal-Mart and Target
- Under an online threat, rivals may look for their own big deal
Amazon Gets the Brick and Mortar Footprint Bezos Wanted
Since its founding 23 years ago, Amazon.com Inc. has upended the business of selling books, music and just about everything else we consume -- except food.
Not anymore. In one fell swoop, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos charged into the supermarket business with the $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods. The surprise deal shakes up the $800 billion grocery sector -- and the broader retail industry itself -- by marrying Amazon’s vast scale and digital prowess with Whole Foods Market Inc.’s 460 stores and fresh-food distribution network.