After shares of the health firm plunged more than 70% over the past year, and as Amazon takes another step into the healthcare space, the company plans to buy One Medical parent company 1Life Healthcare.
One Medical, which offers virtual health care through an application, will be bought by Amazon for $18 a share in cash.
After closing at $10.18 a share Wednesday, the company's value jumped to $2 billion.
One Medical said it saw opportunities to make the health care experience more accessible and enjoyable, while Amazon said it saw opportunities to improve the quality of the health care experience.
Amazon said that the CEO of One Medical will keep his job once the deal is done.
In 2020 One Medical went public at a price of fourteen dollars a share. The company's market cap of over $6 billion was reached in early 2021, when the company's share price rose to $54. Since then, the stock has fallen. There were reports two weeks ago that the health care company was considering a takeover. The acquisition is the latest move from Amazon into the healthcare industry after launching its first telemedicine program a year into the Pandemic. Amazon is one of a number of companies that have ventured into the healthcare space.
The company did not enforce state vaccination guidelines by allowing healthcare workers to get vaccine without proof of identification, which allowed people to jump the line during a time when vaccines were available.
People should be allowed to jump the line for Covid-19 vaccines.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was going to buy one medical.