After it was rumored to be in play earlier this month, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that One Medical has found a new home. After a torrid public offering, the value of the American consumer healthcare and technology company had fallen below its IPO price, and it was an obvious target for the right buyer.
But after CVS left the table, it wasn’t a healthcare entity that snapped up the former venture darling, and nor was it turned into a platform play by private equity. Instead, Amazon nabbed it up in a deal that comes to around $3.9 billion. At $18 per share, One Medical is exiting the public markets with a price tag that’s higher than when it IPO’d — a win of sorts for the unprofitable company.
What should we make of the Amazon deal, though? We covered the news on TechCrunch, and TechCrunch+ dug around into what the smaller company could offer its new parent, so we’ve gathered to share a few more thoughts on the matter.
From Walter Thompson, Miranda Halpern and Alex Wilhelm, three views follow on the Amazon-One Medial transaction.
Walter Thompson: Amazon is the black hole created by the death of Main Street retail
One Medical’s CEO said his company’s acquisition by Amazon is “an opportunity to transform health care and improve outcomes.” But I interpreted the pending $3.9 billion purchase as a bright, blinking sign that the world’s largest retailer is not afraid of regulatory oversight or intervention. Amazon has moved beyond revenue generation: At this point, the company largely exists to accrete additional mass.
