Amazon is just where the robots will buy stuff. FB created bots that started chatting with each other then evolved to create their own non human language. MS created a bot that learned to be racist. Meanwhile Google's AI just wants to play Chess or Go. Eventually they'll combine and then we are all screwed.
If i'm not mistaken, Whole Foods is headquartered in the Austin area. Would suck for ppl to lose jobs over an Amazon take over
I don't think they'll move much if anything to Seattle. Maybe some cuts due to some redundancy but overall I think Whole Foods stays where it is. Amazon has gotten into a habit of actually creating new offices outside of Seattle. I think they've figured out that at some point it becomes easier to tap into employment pools in other places by just setting up shop there rather than trying to entice people with relocation packages.
This is exactly right. Too many companies don't properly define what their strength is and play to that. Amazon is a distribution company. This acquisition is a great purchase to further their distribution prowess.
Amazon is a half trillion dollar company. That started selling books on the internet and does a lot of tech stuff. Whole Foods sells real actual minimally modified or f'd with food and is 1/40th the size. What a world!
I thought Kroger's or Randall's or some grocery store was going to buy. That was the rumor 1-2 months ago. And Wal Mart buying Bonobos.
Kroger is getting crushed early... down like 12%. Walmart also down, about 6%. All the early analysis is this deal makes perfect sense, Amazon is up, yada, yada... And, well, yeah, it does make sense.... but it also points to how the "chatter" can hurt a company's value. Whole Foods was undervalued - it has these 450 "premium" distribution points, prime real estate, supremely loyal customers, etc. but the chatter of Whole Paycheck, etc. kept it down. Meanwhile, you can't get a decent new iphone for under like $800 and Apple soars... Personally, we use both stores a fair amount, though use Amazon more and more and Whole Foods less and less, because, well, the whole paycheck thing is true, lol. You can get 50% of the stuff you might have wanted at Whole Foods at Costco for much cheaper.
Now you can order a laptop and pick it up in store while you shop for your pre peeled organic bananas. Pretty genius.
Amazon is a "survival of the fittest" environment. I have several friends that work for or have worked for Amazon in both Boston and Seattle, and they all say the same thing: You get what you put in. It's not a work culture where people are going to take you under their wing, and mentor you. You have to actively seek out what you want to be a part of, and push for it. If you don't, you'll get left by the wayside.
Seems to me that online grocery shopping is undervalued and underused primarily because they have inflated costs and ordering still feels like a task because of the time needed to set it up and limited product availability compared to actual store. Yet we wall want the service. We do. Amazon has mastered online ordering and whole foods has mastered organic healthy foods. This is a winner from my standpoint. The obvious inhibitor is the selection of fresh food in person, however, that's solvable for someone like Amazon who has resources and tech.
I could never imagine myself buying groceries online. If I am getting a tomato I want to see my tomato.
This is why Amazon is the scariest company on earth, not Google. Stick a fork in Kroger. Walmart is the only competitor that has a chance against Amazon.
there are probably a half dozen grocery stores that have better organic food than whole foods. Whole Foods beats out Safeway and thats about it. Their quality is poor and their prices are by far the most expensive I don't shop at whole foods now and won't now that amazon owns it. I also don't ever see myself buying groceries online
