Amazon reaches out to the health and vaccine sectors

Amazon seeks to further extend its influence purchasing One Medical for $ 3.9 billion, a health care company that proposes itself in the United States as a “user-friendly” alternative to the more traditional doctor’s office. Considering that the e-commerce giant is already at the center of investigations by the US antitrust, the acquisition almost seems to come as a defiant slap in the face of the Washington government.

Let’s get one thought out of the way: how worried is there that Amazon is expanding into the medical field? Although an expense of almost four billion may seem huge, in the context of Big Tech an investment of this caliber is not particularly worthy of sensationalism. Even more, it is difficult to believe that the maneuver could have a significant impact on the member states of the European Union. Wanting to be mischievous, it can be assumed that the operation serves first of all to minimize taxable profits, however it is easy to understand that One Medical also represents a useful resource to grow the counterpart. Amazon Care.

Although not noticed by many, Amazon set foot in the medical care industry about three years ago. The project she took on, however, moved with extreme caution, so it is reasonable to think that the management has well thought of accelerate the process of dissemination of the service absorbing the competition’s network and structures within it. It would be a modus operandi already seen in the past, or when Big Tech tried to establish itself on the food market by taking possession of Whole Foods (costing $ 13.4 billion), on home security by conquering Ring (one billion) and on Hollywood cinema by expanding its shadow on MGM (8.5 billion).

The technology applied to monitoring biological values ​​- be it smartwatches or medical equipment – has long promised to provide new means to optimize the management of visits and hospital stays in clinics, especially now that rich countries are increasingly inhabited by ailing old men who struggle to find appropriate assistance. Nothing suggests that Amazon has the desire to push immediately towards these insidious frontiers, rather the situation is to be read at the moment as a diversification of the company’s investments, a maneuver that falls strategically in a period in which the Markets are watching with concern the actions taken against Big Tech by government investigators. Not surprisingly, seeing Amazon so active despite pressure from the Biden Administration has cheered Wall Street investors, who have blessed the giant with slight, but sensitive, growth in the stock market.

In short, a more managerial situation than an evolutionary one. A relatively modest move that must have taken the lessons learned from the Haven flop last year, a health care service that Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase had attempted to tackle in an effort to amortize the costs of health care offered to their own. employees. At the same time, it is also worth remembering that Big Tech is also sowing its money in the direction of Fred Hutchinson, a research center which has been commissioned to create a cancer vaccine, currently in the first phase of experimentation. The pandemic has shown more than ever that vaccines can be a huge business and Amazon would be happy to be a part of it.

[di Walter Ferri]