"Antitrust" investigation will enter into acquisition of Whole Foods Market by Amazon of 1.5 trillion yen scale

ByMike Mozart

On June 16, 2017, Amazon's Amazon acquisition of the premium food supermarket "Whole Foods Market"Announced. The purchase price is a huge amount of 13.7 billion dollars (about 1.5 trillion yen), but from the United States there is a concern that this purchase play is in violation of the antitrust law (American antitrust law) It is raised one after another.

Amazon's Whole Foods deal under scrutiny - BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40708880

Although the public opinion as a whole is taking the merger of both parties generally favorably, there are voices concerning the adverse influence from the size of the scale. The Democratic Party of the United States asked government authorities to investigate whether the choice of consumers will be limited by the merger of Amazon with Whole Foods, especially in cases where there are no options for purchasing other shops or products . This is a concern that corporate monopoly by merger will strengthen, it is a concern that consumers will be disadvantaged.

The voice of this concern was also announced in the midst of merger negotiations by both parties concerned about the influence of corporate integration in the aviation, banking and telecommunications fields of the United States. The Democratic Party has expressed concern as "antitrust" as part of the equivalent economic policy, and President Trump also said that Amazon had "a very big antitrust issue" during the election period I expressed my opinion.

ByGlobal Panorama

At the Democratic Party, a parliamentary group, mainly composed by Ohio State Representative Marcia Fudge, told the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, "We will not oppose this merger story," and said, "Simply compete We are sending a letter saying that further detailed scrutiny should be conducted rather than a usual anti-trust survey that examines only forces. Consumer rights group "Consumer Watchdog" should take steps to stop the merger unless Amazon improves the way users make misunderstandings of product discounts(PDF)Announced a statementdoing.

In addition to contesting Consumer Watchdog's complaint, Amazon is responding to the Federal Trade Commission by re-submitting documents on the merger and resetting the deadline of preliminary investigation by the government. Initially, Whole Foods forecasted that the agreement would be concluded in the second quarter of 2017, but he said he urges investors to note that they may be slipping to investors in May 2018 It is.