United States Federal Trade Commission has stated that it will not try to block the purchase of Whole Foods by Amazon. Several agencies have called for FTC to step in to try and stop the deal, but FTC delivered a blow to opposers saying that it will not interfere.
In a statement, acting Chief of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition said that “The FTC conducted an investigation of this proposed acquisition to determine whether it substantially lessened competition under Section 7 of the Clayton Act, or constituted an unfair method of competition under Section 5 of the FTC Act.” Furthermore, acting chief said that “Based on our investigation we have decided not to pursue this matter further.”
Keep in mind that the deal still has to be signed off by the Justice Department. The deal has been heavily criticized by others. FTC in its statement said that it “always has the ability to investigate anticompetitive conduct should such action be warranted.”
This past June, Amazon first proposed the $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods. While going through a lot of scrutiny, it looks like the deal will not stop right now. On the contrary, Whole Foods shareholders approved the deal.
