This is pretty big news in the retail world: Walgreens has agreed to buy the Rite-Aid chain of pharmacies for $9.4 billion. From the Wall Street Journal:
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. agreed to buy Rite Aid Corp. for about $9.4 billion, in a move that would create a drugstore giant at a time when companies in nearly every corner of the health-care industry are seeking to gain advantage from bulking up.
But given they are two of the three-biggest drugstore owners in the country, the deal would be expected to draw scrutiny from antitrust regulators and big divestitures could be required to win their blessing.
Rite Aid, based in Camp Hill, Pa., has about 4,600 drugstores in 31 states. Walgreens has roughly 8,200 U.S. stores, while CVS Health Corp. has more than 7,800. In terms of market value, Rite Aid is much smaller than Walgreens and CVS, which both have values exceeding $100 billion.
Rite Aid had revenue in the fiscal year ended in February of $26.5 billion. Walgreens had revenue in the 12 months ended in August 2014 of $76.4 billion, while CVS had 2014 sales of $139.4 billion.
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