Apparently Amazon Was Not The Only Bidder For Whole Foods

When out of nowhere Amazon announced that it was going to acquire Whole Foods for $42 per share, it didn’t seem like anyone else had been shopping for the organic retail chain.

However according to a proxy statement that was filed by Whole Foods with the SEC, Amazon wasn’t the only bidder and they actually paid more than they had originally wanted to.

According to the filing, Whole Foods received an initial written offer on May 23 from Amazon to acquire the supermarket company for $41 per share which the online retail giant said was a “compelling” value for shareholders.

Two other unnamed companies had also approached Whole Foods however, as well as four private equity firms.

According to a source that spoke to Reuters, Albertsons was one of the unnamed companies.

Whole Foods made a counter proposal at $45 a share at a board meeting on May 30th that was given to Goldman Sachs, Amazon’s financial advisor.

The SEC filing revealed that “The Goldman Sachs representatives expressed their disappointment at the price specified in [Whole Foods’] counter proposal as they had previously informed … that Amazon.com believed that it had made a very strong bid.”

Amazon eventually offered their last and “final offer” at $42 a share which obviously Whole Foods took as they announced the deal on June 16th.

“The Whole Foods Market board of directors concluded that entering into the merger agreement with Amazon.com was more favorable to Whole Foods Market shareholders than the other alternatives reasonably available,” Whole Foods wrote.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) nor Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and have not been compensated for this article.