FTC clears Amazon to buy Whole Foods in $13.7B deal

Whole Foods customer💦s on Wednesday got one step closer to having their organic groceries delivered via Amazon Prime.

The Federal Trade Commission said that it is no longer investigating the $13.7 billion Whole Foods-Amazon merger on antitrust grounds.

“Based on our investigation, we have decided not to pursue this matter further,” Bruc🍸e Hoffman, acting FTC boss, said in a statement.

“Of course, the FTC alway✃s has the ability to investigate anti-competitive conduct shoul🌊d such action be warranted,” Hoffman added.

Still, the FTC’s decision paves the way for the merger to be completed by the end o🤪f the year.

It was the seco🎃nd dose of good news for the deal Wednesday.

Before the FTC decision, Whole Foods shareholders approv💯ed Amazon’s $42-a-share purchase of their gr🐲ocery chain.

Since the deal was announced June 16, shares quickly traded up to the deal price, representing a 27 premium to where Whole Foods shares traded befo𝔉re the deal was announced♛.

The deal was announced two months after activist hedge fund Jana Partners acquired an 8.3 percent stake in the grocer aಞnd pushꦑed it to consider a sale.

But for all the dollar signs Whole Foods shareholders see in🌱 the grocer moving under the Amazon umbrella — Jana reaped roughly $300 million — others feared the e-commerce giant dominating yet another industry.

Amazon was🦹 explicitly mentioned in at least 150 earnings calls since July, according to a Reuters report earlier this month.

In many instances, Amazon was disc▨ussed as a competitor, according to the report.