Amazon Has Finalized Its Acquisition Of One Medical

As of Wednesday, Amazon announced that it had closed a $3.9 billion deal to purchase primary care provider One Medical.

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The announcement was made last July that Amazon would acquire One Medical in order to expand its presence in health care, as well as to "dramatically improve" the experience of getting medical care for its customers. In 2018, Amazon purchased online pharmacy PillPack for a reported $750 million and then rolled out its own telehealth service to Prime members. Since then, Amazon has long had the plan to expand into health care.

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The purchase marked Amazon's first major deal since CEO Andy Jassy took over from founder Jeff Bezos in July 2021, and Jassy has indicated he sees healthcare as a major area for the company to expand in the near future. According to him, long appointment times and the complexity of primary care are creating ripe conditions for disruptions in the healthcare system.

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“We are committed to offering our customers the best possible experience, and that is what One Medical has been working on and innovating on for more than a decade,” Jassy said. “Through our partnership, we hope to make health care simpler, faster, more personal, and more convenient for everyone.”

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Regardless of whether customers are Prime members or not, Amazon said it would discount One Medical membership for U.S. users to $144 from $199 for the first year, regardless of whether they were Prime subscribers or not.

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Following the expiration of a deadline for the Federal Trade Commission to challenge the merger, the deal has been officially closed. Over the past several months, the FTC has been conducting in-depth reviews of the proposed acquisition as a result of the acquisition. Amazon and One Medical, according to securities filings, received a "second request" for information about the deal from the agency in September last year.

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Even though Amazon waited the required period of time to close the deal, the FTC has the right to file a lawsuit at a later date in order to unwind the merger, a right it reserves in every deal it reviews. In recent days, the FTC under the leadership of Chair Lina Khan has sent out letters to several parties seeking to merge, telling them that while they cannot stop the merger any longer due to the passing of the deadline, they are still investigating and may take legal action at a later time. In spite of this, it is often more difficult to break up a merger in a practical sense once two businesses have formally merged and become one.

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In March, Amazon also cleared regulatory hurdles with its $8.5 billion acquisition of movie studio MGM. There is still an ongoing investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) into the company's Prime program, as well as the marketplace it offers online. As part of the review, the agency is also reviewing Amazon's announcement last year that it would purchase iRobot for $1.65 billion.

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Khan is one of the most vocal critics of Amazon. With her article in the Yale Law Journal titled "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox," she made her first big impact on antitrust circles in 2017. The article, which she wrote while still a law student, argued that the popular antitrust framework focused on consumer welfare was inadequate to assess giants like Amazon, as digital giants.

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