The Federal Commerce Fee is investigating Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition of the first well being group One Medical, a transfer that might delay the completion of the deal.
Each One Medical and Amazon acquired a request for added data Friday in reference to an FTC evaluation of the merger, in keeping with a submitting made with securities regulators by One Medical’s father or mother, San Francisco-based 1Life Healthcare Inc.
Amazon introduced plans in late July to purchase One Medical, a concierge-type medical service with roughly 190 medical places of work in 25 markets. Final week, the e-commerce large mentioned it will shutter its personal hybrid digital in-home care service referred to as Amazon Care, a One Medical competitor, as a result of it wasn’t assembly prospects’ wants.
The One Medical deal, the primary to be introduced below CEO Andy Jassy, was one other push into healthcare for Amazon following its acquisition of the online pharmacy PillPack for $750 million in 2018.
Teams calling for stricter antitrust rules have urged the FTC to dam the One Medical merger, arguing it will additional broaden Amazon’s huge market energy. When it was introduced in July, the American Financial Liberties Mission in Washington mentioned it was unclear if Amazon would shield sufferers and their delicate medical data.
“Allowing Amazon to control the health care data for another 700,000 plus individuals is terrifying,” Krista Brown, the group’s senior coverage analyst, mentioned in a July assertion. “Amazon has no business being a major player in the healthcare space, and regulators should block this $4 billion deal to ensure it does not become one.”
An Amazon spokesperson declined to remark Friday.
The FTC has already been investigating the sign-up and cancellation practices of Amazon Prime and has issued civil subpoenas in that case.
Final 12 months, the corporate requested unsuccessfully that FTC Chair Lina Khan step other than separate antitrust investigations into its enterprise, arguing she could be biased. Khan was notable critic of Seattle-based Amazon and different Huge Tech corporations previous to assuming the chairmanship. As a Yale legislation scholar in 2017, she wrote an influential examine titled “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.”
One Medical would mark certainly one of Amazon’s greatest acquisitions, following its $13.7 billion deal to buy Complete Meals in 2017 and its $8.5 billion purchase of Hollywood studio MGM, which closed earlier this 12 months.
