(Reuters) -One Medical said on Friday the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had sought more information from the company and Amazon.com Inc about the primary care provider’s $3.49-billion acquisition by the online retailer.
The request for new information is part of the U.S. anti-trust body’s review process, which is usually done to check if a deal has any anti-competitive consequences.
Both parties plan to promptly respond to the request, One Medical said.
Analysts have said Amazon’s limited healthcare presence should minimize antitrust issues, but there were still risks, given the company faces scrutiny over its dominant tech position in the market.
After the deal was announced, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is also the chairwoman of a subcommittee overseeing antitrust issues, urged the FTC to investigate the proposed deal due to Amazon’s “history of engaging in business practices that raise serious anticompetitive concerns”.Amazon in July had agreed to buy One Medical as it sought to expand its virtual healthcare offering and add brick-and-mortar doctors’ offices.
The company last month said it planned to shut down its virtual healthcare service by the end of this year, as a deal to buy One Medical awaited regulatory approval.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo, Praveen Paramasivam and Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru;Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
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