Amazon to buy Whole Foods Market for $18b

Amazon.com will acquire Whole Foods Market for $US13.7 billion ($18 billion), a bombshell of a deal that catapults the e-commerce giant into hundreds of physical stores and fulfils a long-held goal of selling more groceries.

Amazon agreed to pay $US42 a share in cash for the organic-food chain, including debt, a roughly 27 per cent premium to the stock price at Thursday's New York close. John Mackey, Whole Foods' outspoken co-founder, will continue to run the business - a victory after a fight with activist investor Jana Partners that threatened to drive him from power.

Bloomberg