Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM)

Whole Foods Market is a supermarket chain specializing in natural and organic foods. It became known for strict quality standards that ban many artificial ingredients, for large prepared-food departments and for helping bring organic products into mainstream grocery shopping. At the time of its sale it ran more than 460 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The company was founded in Austin, Texas in 1980 by John Mackey and partners, combining two small natural food stores. It went public in 1992 and listed on NASDAQ under the symbol WFM. It expanded rapidly by opening new stores and buying regional natural food grocers, including Wild Oats Markets in 2007. Mackey served as chief executive until 2022. Its headquarters stayed in Austin.

In the 2010s Whole Foods faced tougher competition as conventional grocers, warehouse clubs and discounters added organic products at lower prices. Same-store sales declined for several years and the stock fell well below its highs. In 2017 activist investor Jana Partners took a stake and pushed for changes, including a possible sale. Investors questioned its growth plans. It also launched a cheaper store format called 365.

In June 2017 Amazon agreed to buy Whole Foods for $42.00 per share in cash, about $13.7 billion. The deal closed on August 28, 2017 and the shares were removed from NASDAQ. Whole Foods now operates as a subsidiary of Amazon, which cut some prices and integrated the stores with its Prime membership program. The brand and store network remain in operation.