Walmart-Jet.com $3 Billion Deal Announced Monday

UPDATE: 6 p.m. EDT — Walmart formally announced Monday its takeover of online retailer Jet.com “for approximately $3 billion in cash, a portion of which will be paid over time. Additionally, $300 million of Walmart shares will be paid over time as part of the transaction.”

In a statement, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said of the acquisition: “We’re looking for ways to lower prices, broaden our assortment and offer the simplest, easiest shopping experience because that’s what our customers want. We believe the acquisition of Jet accelerates our progress across these priorities.”

Original story:

After being subject to rumors for over a week, Walmart and Jet.com are expected to announce a $3 billion deal on Monday under which the brick-and-mortar retailing giant will buy the online retailer, according to various reports.

Confirmation of the deal was first reported Saturday by Bloomberg, which, citing unnamed sources, said the terms of the acquisition will require that the startup founder Marc Lore continues “to head the retailer’s online division for several years.”

Previously, Lore has worked for Amazon.com, the market leader in online retail sector and a rival that Walmart has been trying to close the gap with. Before spending over two years with Amazon, Lore was also competing with the e-commerce company when he founded Quidsi, known best for its Diapers.com business. He was forced to sell the company to Amazon in 2010 but after quitting Amazon, Lore started Jet.com, his new e-commerce venture, in 2015.

Having him onboard is likely to help the Bentonville, Arkansas, retail corporation in an area that seems to be largely unfamiliar territory. Compared to Amazon’s $99 billion annual revenue from e-commerce operations, Walmart has a fraction at $14 billion, Recode reported.

“Wal-Mart still struggles with things like third party marketplaces which Marc and his team have successfully built,” Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc., told Bloomberg.

Recode, which also spoke to unnamed sources familiar with the deal, said Neil Ashe, Walmart’s current global e-commerce chief, will depart after a transition period. For his part, Lore is expected to make about $750 million from the deal, since he owns 25 percent of Jet.com.

The deal was signed Friday and is expected to be announced Monday, TechCrunch reported.