American Federal Trade Commission has approved Amazon’s acquisition of supermarket chain Whole Foods, which means the entire deal should be finalized before the end of the year.
Investigation halted
When the Whole Foods acquisition was announced, the FTC launched an investigation to see whether the deal would endanger the market’s competitiveness. However, it has now halted that investigation, which means there are no major obstacles to prevent the deal’s finalization.
Amazon and Whole Foods reached a deal in June, with Walmart paying 13.7 billion dollars (11.6 billion euro) to acquire the supermarket chain. The revelation rocked the American supermarket industry: several competitors’ shares immediately plummeted and they are now also looking for ways to fight off the Amazon – Whole Foods collaboration. Once such example is how Aldi recently announced it would home deliver orders in the United States.
