So, last week Amazon rocked our (and by our, I mean my) world with its US$13.7bn purchase of Whole Foods — the most cash it has ever dropped on a buyout. At the time, I gave you the quick and dirty on the main points of the acquisition. This, as promised, is Part Deux: Food Fight. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos once said the company isn’t secretive — "we talk when we have something to say". Maybe $13.7bn is enough words. We don’t know exactly how Amazon will use Whole Foods to strengthen its position in the grocery market — and, perhaps more existentially, in the "everything you buy" market. We do know Bezos is a long-term thinker with far-reaching ambitions. Most thought he was a loon when Amazon started selling Mills & Boon romance novels online — until they awoke to an upended book industry and the world’s most efficient order-fulfilment system. Wall Street has been happy to give Amazon a pass on performance, despite its investments not resulting in returns (remember, the company basical...
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