Amazon.com Inc. announced it would buy primary-care company One Medical for US$18 a share, the latest move by the e-commerce giant to muscle into the healthcare market.
The all-cash transaction has an equity value of US$3.49 billion.
But unlike other investor-backed clinic chains such as Oak Street Health Inc., One Medical has historically focused on fee-for-service medical care, rather than new payment models that much of the industry is moving to. That changed last year with the company’s US$1.4 billion acquisition of Medicare-focused chain Iora Health Inc., known for trying to reinvent senior care by improving quality while managing costs.
Bloomberg reported earlier this month that One Medical was weighing its options after attracting takeover interest, including from CVS. Carlyle Group Inc., the private equity firm that invested US$350 million in One Medical in 2018, is exiting its remaining 7 per cent stake in the company as part of the deal, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the information hasn’t been made public.
Read more: BNN Bloomberg
