Amazon is eating the world, one industry at a time. Last Friday, the gargantuan retailer paid $13.7bn (£10.7bn) to buy Whole Foods Market in the US, an acquisition that threw the global grocery business into a fit of nerves. After the deal was announced, Amazon’s stock price rose by more than the price it is paying for Whole Foods; meanwhile, Walmart’s dropped by 5%, as did Tesco’s. Wall Street can see the writing on the wall: Amazon is taking over.
It’s not just supermarkets that Amazon is coming for. The technology company accounts for 43% of online sales in the US, yet in today’s winner-takes-all economy it likely won’t be happy until it accounts for 100% of all sales, everywhere. Earlier this year, Amazon launched seven private-label clothing brands in a push to grow its fashion presence and there have been rumours swirling that the company is planning a significant move into the pharmacy market.
Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/20/amazon-whole-foods-silicon-valley-global-domination