Amazon’s Signify Health bid marks latest attempt to expand into healthcare

First, it took on books. Then, it disrupted the retail industry. Now Amazon is setting its sights on the healthcare industry.

The world’s largest online retailer is putting its hat in the ring to buy Signify Health, a healthcare platform that uses analytics and technology to coordinate in-home healthcare services. Amazon.com, Inc., known for e-commerce, is going up against healthcare heavy hitters CVS, UnitedHealth and Option Care Health, according to Bloomberg.

UnitedHealth reportedly has the highest bid so far, with Amazon not too far behind. Signify Health’s stock rose about 40% after news of the bidding war broke out. The Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report Amazon’s involvement, said the auction could value Signify Health at around $8 billion, with final bids due around Labor Day.

The tech giant‘s bid came one month after agreeing to buy primary care company One Medical for $3.9 billion. That is its third largest acquisition to date behind Whole Foods at $13.7 billion and MGM at $8.5 billion.

“We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention,” Senior Vice President of Amazon Health Services Neil Lindsay said when announcing the One Medical deal. “We want to be one of the companies that helps dramatically improve the healthcare experience over the next several years.”

The increasing expansion into the healthcare space comes after Amazon launched Amazon Care in 2019 and Amazon Pharmacy in 2020, after acquiring PillPack for $753 million.

But its effort to “Amazonify” the industry has come with mixed reviews. On one hand, care can be easy and convenient, according to patient reviews. But a new Washington Post exposé knocked Amazon Care’s “fast and frugal approach,” quoting an outgoing telehealth nurse who said, “I wanted to feel like I was meaningful as a nurse. Not a cog in the Amazon machine.”