Walmart buys Jet.com: Boxed-in unicorn

• Ref:
• Location:
• Type:
• Salary:
• Start Date:

Print section

UK Only Article: 
standard article

Issue: 

Cheating death

Fly Title: 

Walmart buys Jet.com

Main image: 

20160813_wbp503.jpg

Rubric: 

Walmart’s acquisition of Jet.com heats up its battle with Amazon

SPENDING .3 billion on an unprofitable business might seem an undisciplined splurge. By buying Jet.com, a shopping website, Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, has joined the ranks of investors betting on so-called “unicorns”, or private startups valued at over billion. The acquisition is the most expensive deal ever for an American e-commerce startup, and a sign of just how worried Walmart executives are by the rise of Amazon. It’s also an admission that despite heavy internal investment, the Bentonville giant’s own site, Walmart.com, is nowhere near enough.
Walmart still accounts for a tenth of American retail sales, but that has declined from 11.6% in 2009, according to Cowen Group, a financial-services firm. Amazon’s share is about half of Walmart’s, but it is growing fast. …
Source: Retailing
Walmart buys Jet.com: Boxed-in unicorn