Amazon steps up health care ambitions with $3.9B acquisition of One Medical

Amazon has reached a deal to buy health-care company and primary care provider One Medical for $3.9 billion, including debt, The Wall Street Journal reports Thursday.

The all-cash purchase, coming in at $18 a share, is just Amazon's "latest foray into the healthcare space," the Journal writes.

"We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention," said Senior Vice President of Amazon Health Services Neil Lindsay. "We see lots of opportunity to both improve the quality of the experience and give people back valuable time in their days."

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One Medical, the parent company of which "is the San-Francisco based 1Life Healthcare, Inc., is a membership-based service that offers virtual care as well as in-person visits," ABC News writes. It works with over 8,000 companies to offer health benefits for employees.

Amazon first stepped up its health care game in 2018, "when it spent $753 million to buy the start-up PillPack, an online pharmacy," reports The New York Times. Then, in 2019, the tech giant started Amazon Care, its own primary and urgent care service for employees. The One Medical purchase is the first major acquisition under CEO Andy Jassy, who took over for company founder Jeff Bezos last year.