Amazon to acquire One Medical for $3.9B to expand healthcare biz

Amazon acquired One Medical healthcare company via an all-cash deal worth $3.9 billion. The purchase was announced by the e-commerce firm on Thursday, July 21.

As per CNN Business, One Medical is a membership-based primary care service that provides 24-hour, seven days a week, virtual care to its customers. It operates in a number of major US markets and works with more than 8,000 companies across the country.

Most of its partnerships with companies are related to providing One Medical health benefits to their employees. The acquisition is said to be another example of a major tech firm branching out and expanding its footprint in the healthcare business sector.

One Medical is an addition to Amazon’s healthcare portfolio as it already acquired the online pharmacy called PillPack in 2018. The company also opened its own digital pharmacy in the U.S. later. Then, this was followed by a collaboration with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase to provide much better health insurance and health care services to employees and families at affordable rates.

Now, with its purchase of One Medical, the deal is now one of the largest acquisitions in the history of Amazon’s business. The two other multi-billion buyouts were the Whole Foods grocery chain which the company acquired for $13.7 billion in 2017, and the $8.5 billion agreement to buy MGM Hollywood movie studio, which was closed earlier this year.

“We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention. Booking an appointment, waiting weeks or even months to be seen, taking time off work, driving to a clinic, finding a parking spot, waiting in the waiting room then the exam room for what is too often a rushed few minutes with a doctor, then making another trip to a pharmacy,” Amazon Health Services senior vice president, Neil Lindsay, said in a press release.

The SVP added, “We love inventing to make what should be easy, and we want to be one of the companies that helps dramatically improve the healthcare experience over the next several years.”

Finally, Lindsay said that together with One Medical’s healthcare, they believe that Amazon will be able to help more people obtain better care when and how they need it.