Amazon has announced it will buy primary care provider One Medical. Amazon aims to deepen its presence in health care and “dramatically improve” the medical care experience.
Bezos company has long had ambitions to expand into health care, buying online pharmacy PillPack in 2018 for $750 million, launching its virtual clinic for chronic conditions, and prescription perks for Prime members.
The deal gives Amazon access to One Medical’s more than 200 brick-and-mortar medical offices in 26 markets and roughly 815,000 members.
The purchase was the first significant deal announced since CEO Andy Jassy took the helm from founder Jeff Bezos in July 2021. Bezos has indicated he sees healthcare as a substantial area of expansion. In a statement, he said health care is ripe for disruption, citing long appointment times and the complexities of primary care.
“Customers want and deserve better, and that’s what One Medical has been working and innovating on for more than a decade,” Jassy said. “Together, we believe we can make the health care experience easier, faster, more personal, and more convenient for everyone.”
Amazon said it would discount One Medical membership for U.S. users to $144 from $199 for the first year, regardless of whether they’re a Prime subscriber.
The closing comes after a deadline passed for the Federal Trade Commission to challenge the deal. The acquisition had undergone an in-depth review at the FTC for several months. Last September, the agency sent Amazon and One Medical a so-called second request for more information about the deal, according to securities filings.
While Amazon waited out the required period to close the deal, the FTC could still decide to bring a case to unwind the merger later — a right it reserves in any agreement it reviews. The FTC, under Chair Lina Khan, has sent letters to some parties seeking to merge, saying that while they can’t hold up the merger any longer because the deadline has passed, they are still investigating and could take legal action later. Still, breaking up a union is often more difficult in a practical sense once two businesses are formally combined.
“The FTC’s investigation of Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical continues,” said FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar. “The commission will continue to look at possible harms to competition created by this merger as well as possible harms to consumers that may result from Amazon’s control and use of sensitive consumer health information held by One Medical.”
The FTC sent a letter to the companies warning them that the parties are closing the deal at their own risk and that it still has specific concerns about the agreement, an agency official confirmed.
Amazon’s $8.5 billion deal for movie studio MGM cleared regulatory hurdles and was confirmed recently.
After nearly a year after it announced its $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM, the everything store finally closed the deal Thursday, saying the classic Hollywood studio “will complement Prime Video and Amazon Studios' work in delivering a diverse offering of entertainment choices to customers.”
The deal includes over 4,000 film rights owned by MGM. The agency is also reviewing Amazon’s $1.65 billion purchase of iRobot, which it announced last year. The company still faces an ongoing probe by the FTC into its Prime program and its online marketplace.
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