Amazon, Whole Foods merger gets the okay from shareholders, US regulators

San Francisco

AMAZON.COM INC on Wednesday cleared two of the biggest hurdles needed to close its US$13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc, with approvals from a US regulator and the grocery chain's shareholders.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in a statement that it would not pursue its investigation into the proposed merger further after reviewing whether the deal would substantially lessen competition or constituted an unfair method of competition.