Amazon expands healthcare business with £3.2bn One Medical acquisition

Amazon has agreed to buy primary care organisation One Medical in a £3.2 billion ($3.9 billion) deal to accelerate its drive into healthcare services.

The e-commerce giant said in a statement that it will pay $18 per share, or about £2.9 billion ($3.49 billion) in cash. The total deal value includes the American healthcare provider's net debt.

The takeover, subject to approval from shareholders in 1Life Healthcare and regulators, will see One Medical's CEO, Amir Dan Rubin, remain in his role after the deal is finalised.

One Medical, whose parent company is the San Francisco-based 1Life Healthcare, Inc, is a membership-based service that offers virtual care as well as in-person visits. It also provides health benefits to employees of about 8,000 companies.

The move expands Amazon’s healthcare business, which currently offers virtual appointments and follow-up visits at home under its Amazon Care brand.

Healthcare is the latest industry that Amazon, which boasts a sprawling range of interests including retail, streaming, cloud computing and advertising, has sought to disrupt. Andy Jassy became Amazon chief executive last summer and its founder Jeff Bezos, 58, is now executive chairman.

Neil Lindsay, Senior Vice-President at Amazon Health Services, said: "We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention. Booking an appointment, waiting weeks or even months to be seen, taking time off work, driving to a clinic, finding a parking spot, waiting in the waiting room then the exam room for what is too often a rushed few minutes with a doctor, then making another trip to a pharmacy — we see lots of opportunity to both improve the quality of the experience and give people back valuable time in their days.

"We love inventing to make what should be easy easier and we want to be one of the companies that helps dramatically improve the healthcare experience over the next several years."