Amazon.com paid a hefty price for acquiring internet pharmacy PillPack.com—but not as much as $1 billion deal that appeared in some trade publications.
That $1 billion price tag got a lot of attention in June when the biggest online retailer announced it was buying Manchester New Hampshire-based PillPack Inc. for an undisclosed sum.
But the purchase price was $753 million and PillPack, which manages multiple prescription medications for customers by pre-sorting, packaging and delivering the drugs—all with a 24/7 pharmacy staff that can be contacted either online or via phone, is a business unit of Amazon.
Details on the actual price tag were published in the fine print of Amazon’s just-released third-quarter earnings report now on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “On Sept. 11 we acquired PillPack Inc. for cash consideration of approximately $753 million, net of cash acquired, to expand our product and service offerings,” Amazon says.
For now, Amazon is taking a hands-off approach in managing PillPack, Amazon chief financial officer Brian T. Olsavsky told Wall Street analysts Thursday on the company’s third-quarter earnings call. “We’re excited, really excited to start working with the management team there,” he told analysts, based on a transcript from SeekingAlpha.com. “They’re very strong—they’ve done a great job building a highly differentiated customer experience, just customer-centric like we are. And right now our focus is on learning from them and innovating with them on how best to meet customer needs over time.”
Amazon paid a big amount for PillPack.com, but the digital pharmacy wasn’t its biggest of the year. In April, Amazon spent $839 million to acquire Ring, a maker of video and voice activated door knockers.
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