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One Medical (NASDAQ:ONEM) rose 8.6% in after hours trading on a report that U.S. antitrust regulators won't try to block Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) $3.49 billion planned acquisition.
The Federal Trade Commission is expected to issue a warning letter that the probe into the transaction remains open despite the deadline for the antitrust review, according to a Bloomberg report, which cited people familiar.
The report comes as some M&A investors were fearful that the Amazon (AMZN) planned to challenge the One Medical (ONEM) deal, especially after reports that the FTC was preparing a potential antitrust lawsuit against Amazon (AMZN) about alleged anticompetitive business practices. A Bloomberg report earlier this month indicated a broader lawsuit could also include the company's plans to buy One Medical (ONEM) and iRobot (IRBT).
iRobot (IRBT) soared 10% in after hours trading on Tuesday following the One Medical news.
“The FTC’s investigation of Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical continues,” FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar told Bloomberg. “The commission will continue to look at possible harms to competition created by this merger as well as possible harms to consumers that may result from Amazon’s control and use of sensitive consumer health information held by One Medical.”
Amazon declined to comment to Bloomberg.
Earlier this month a Deutsche Bank analyst said that One Medical (ONEM) may have no real "valuation floor" if Amazon (AMZN) decided to terminate the deal due to pressure from U.S. antitrust regulators.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) agreed to acquire One Medical (ONEM), an operator of a membership-based primary care platform for $18/share in July.