Amazon sniffs opportunity to cut costs and improve service in fragmented health care sector.

One Medical will be acquired by e-commerce giant Amazon in a deal estimated to be worth $3.9 billion on Thursday, continuing the retailer’s expansion into the healthcare industry.

One Medical will be purchased by Amazon for $18 per share in an all-cash deal, according to a statement.

Amazon also owns the grocery store chain Whole Foods, the esports streaming service Twitch, the home security doorbell service Ring, and hundreds of other businesses outside the healthcare sector.

Following its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods in 2017 and its $8.5 billion acquisition of Hollywood studio MGM, which was completed earlier this year, One Medical represents one of Amazon’s largest acquisitions.

According to Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, the acquisition aims to reinvent the “experience” of receiving medical care for consumers, especially in regards to scheduling appointments, sitting in hospital waiting rooms for extended periods of time, and visiting pharmacies.

He stated, “We think that one of the experiences that needs to be reinvented is health care.

We enjoy developing new technologies that make things simpler, and over the coming years, we hope to be one of the businesses that significantly enhances the quality of medical care.

Amir Dan Rubin will continue to lead One Medical under the terms of the agreement, which still requires regulatory approval.

One Medical is thrilled to be a part of Amazon, which Rubin described as having a “willingness to invest in the long-term.”

For patients, providers, and payers, he added, “there is an enormous possibility to make the health care experience more accessible, inexpensive, and even delightful.”

One Medical is a membership-based service that provides customers with both in-person and virtual medical consultations, and whose parent business is the San Francisco-based 1Life Healthcare, Inc.

According to its first-quarter earnings report, it had roughly 767,000 members as of March and 188 medical offices in 25 regions.

It also revealed the company had sustained a net loss of $90.9 million after generating $254.1 million in revenue.

The most recent acquisition by Amazon expands the business’s entrance into the healthcare industry.

The retail behemoth launched an online pharmacy in 2020, enabling customers to obtain prescription refills or new medication online and have it delivered to their home within a few days.

It started making its Amazon Care telemedicine program available to companies nationwide last year.

Shares of 1Life Healthcare rose 68 percent to $17.13 in morning trading.