Everyone’s favorite Internet monopoly Amazon looks like it’s about to eat Blue Apron’s lunch. Amazon just announced plans to boy high-end grocery chain Whole Foods last month in June, and has also recently filed for trademarks around prepped meal kit services– that’s Blue Apron’s sole business.
Just last week, the House of Representatives’ top democrat David Cicilline spoke about his concerns over Amazon’s plan to buy Whole Foods, and wants to hold a hearing to examine the the deal’s impact on consumers.
From Reuters:
Blue Apron shares tumbled more than 11 percent to $6.51, a drop of nearly 35 percent since its June 29 initial public offering price of $10. The decline came as investors were concerned about its future and the impact of Amazon’s planned $13.7 billion acquisition of supermarket chain Whole Foods Market Inc WFM.N amid a fast-expanding meal-kit industry.
In a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on July 6, Amazon registered a trademark application for “prepared food kits composed of meat, poultry, fish, seafood, fruit and/or vegetables” that is ready for cooking and assembly as a meal.
Amazon’s planned service is identical to the one offered by Blue Apron, one of the largest meal-kit delivery services in the United States.
(L-R) Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Larry Page, CEO and Co-founder of Alphabet, sit during a meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and technology leaders at Trump Tower in New York, U.S., December 14, 2016. REUTERS
The logo of Blue Apron is shown on a large sign in front of the New York Stock Exchange before the company’s IPO in New York, U.S., June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson