Walmart completes $3.3bn acquisition of Jet.com

Walmart has completed its acquisition of Jet.com for $3bn in cash and $300m of Walmart shares. “We’re thrilled to welcome the Jet.com team to the Walmart family and excited to expand the ways we serve our current customers and reach new customers online,” said Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon.

“Jet brings a unique approach and technology that puts customers in control of their experience, helping them find additional ways to save.”

With the close of the deal, Marc Lore, founder and CEO of Jet.com, now joins Walmart’s leadership team, serving as executive vice president at Walmart and president and CEO of Walmart eCommerce in the US. He will lead both Walmart.com and Jet.com, reporting to McMillon.

The acquisition of Jet.com is seen an integral part of Walmart’s strategy to take on Amazon and impose itself on the e-commerce market.

In a blog posted on the Walmart site yesterday (19 September), McMillon said: “The deal will build on our e-commerce foundation and accelerate growth.

“We’ve grown Walmart.com to the second largest online retailer by traffic in the US and in just the past six months we’ve expanded from 7m items to more than 15m on the site. We’re adding about a million more each month.

“We’ve built an impressive fulfillment network that uses mega-sized fulfillment centers and our stores to get orders to customers faster. Within a year, we’ve created one of the largest online grocery businesses in the country.”