by Texans Jack & Dodie

Amazon plans to buy One Medical for $3.9 billion to expand their growing healthcare empire. One Medical’s parent company, 1Life Healthcare, Inc., closed Thursday at $17.25, just below Amazon’s offered price of $18.

The massive retailer first entered into healthcare in 2019.

Here are six things to know about the deal and Amazon’s previous endeavors to invade the healthcare industry:

🔹One Medical is an app and website members use to book appointments, track health records and renew prescriptions.

🔹One Medical has yet to turn a profit since going public in 2020. In the first three months of 2022, losses reached $90 million.

🔹The acquisition of One Medical will pit Amazon against other companies such as UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, CVS Health and hospital systems that increasingly employ physicians.

🔹Amazon’s previous forays into healthcare include a $1 billion deal for a business to ship prescriptions nationwide and a venture to remake healthcare that companies offer to U.S. workers. They haven’t met with much success so far.

🔹In 2019, Amazon launched Amazon Care, a telehealth service it first offered to its employees. Last year, they indicated this would expand in offerings to other companies.

🔹Amazon also launched its own pharmacy business after buying online pharmacy PillPack two years ago, but the service has failed to gain meaningful traction so far, critics and rivals say.