FTC reviewing Amazon’s $3.9B One Medical acquisition

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition of primary care provider One Medical.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, One Medical parent 1Life Healthcare and Amazon both received requests from the FTC for more information regarding the deal on Sept. 2. The planned acquisition was first announced in late July.

In the filing, 1Life said both companies plan to “promptly respond to the second request and to continue to work cooperatively with the FTC in its review of the merger.” Amazon declined to comment. 

THE LARGER TREND

This isn’t the company’s only deal potentially being held up by the FTC. The regulator also reportedly began reviewing Amazon’s planned acquisition of robot vacuum maker iRobot late last week. The tech and retail giant last year had unsuccessfully petitioned to remove FTC Chair Lina Khan from antitrust probes into the company, citing her previous criticism of Amazon and other tech firms. 

In late August, Amazon revealed it would shut down its Amazon Care telehealth service geared toward employers. Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, said in an internal memo it wasn’t “a complete enough offering for the large enterprise customers we have been targeting, and wasn’t going to work long-term.”

But Amazon still has a number of initiatives in the healthcare and health tech space. It launched Amazon Pharmacy after it purchased digital pharmacy PillPack several years ago. 

The company has also been utilizing its virtual assistant Alexa for senior care and assistance as part of its Alexa Together subscription service. Alexa is also available for senior living facilities and health systems. 

Amazon is also competing with Apple and Fitbit in the wearables space with its line of Halo fitness tracking devices.