Whole Foods and Wild Oats reach nirvana and become one

[graywarrior]

Investors eat up Wild Oats proposal

Natural-foods grocer's stock increases 17 percent and Whole Foods shares climb 14 percent a day after the offer is made.

Perhaps Whole Foods Market’s offer to buy Wild Oats is a natural. At least Wall Street seems to think so.

Wild Oats’ stock rose 17 percent on Thursday, closing at $18.41 — no real surprise, because Whole Foods on Wednesday offered to pay $18.50 a share to acquire its natural-foods grocer rival. The kicker is that Whole Foods’ stock went up too, closing at $52.11 a share, a 14 percent increase.

All told, the deal will cost Whole Foods $565 million for the stock, along with assuming $106 million in Wild Oats debt.

{Link}
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/companies/16762520.htm

[idgiehkt]

1. I wish we had one here

I need a job. :(

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I saw the headline today.......

I dunno.....sounds kinda dirty to me!

But what do you expect from an aging hippie?!:hippie:

:rofl: :rofl:

[graywarrior]

4. You can march with a sign in front of their store.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Nah, not me!

I sometimes shop at the local Whole Foods.......

I could not boycott them!

:hi:

[graywarrior]

9. We call them Whole Paycheck at my house.

[yy4me]

3. Now if I can win the lottery, I will be able to shop there.

Both are beautiful stores but beyond my wallet. I cannot afford the luxury of individually polished apples.

[mainegreen]

5. I wonder what they'll call the new company?

Whole Oats?
Wild Foods?
Wild Whole Foods?
Wholly Food Oats?
Oaty and the Wild Foods?

[LuLu550]

15. Letterman's answer

"Whole and Oats" ba-boom-chink!

[grace0418]

6. I'm a little sad about that. There's a WF and a WO within a few blocks of each

other in Evanston, IL. Surely one will close, and I like Wild Oats a little better. Well, maybe a Trader Joe's can move in. I still can't believe Evanston doesn't have a TJs.

[ikojo]

13. There's a Wild Oats a couple of blocks from my

apartment. I prefer them over Whole (paycheck) Foods because they are not as expensive. I also prefer how the store is layed out. Wild Oats also has a community room that groups can use for meetings. There is no such room at Whole Foods.

Both stores are very anti union, however.

[judaspriestess]

8. I am so glad I am able to shop

at Sunflower Market, they are from Arizona. I loooooove them. They are not as 'sophisticated' as a whole foods or wild oats but definatley carry their own. They are like a smaller versuion of them. Their prices a HOME RUN!!

[Kat45]

10. IIRC, Wild Oats isn't as expensive as Whole Foods

I haven't lived near a Wild Oats for a number of years, so I don't know if their prices have gone up since. I guess they will now.

[graywarrior]

11. Wild Oats is less expensive.

I used to work for them, so I'm kinda sad about this. They worked so hard to compete with WF's.

[bicentennial_baby]

14. I agree

x(

[zingaro]

12. No way! Oh this bums me out.

Wild Oats is cheaper and better, IMO.

Crap.

[Pithlet]

16. Huh. I've never been to a Whole Foods

I guess we'll finally be getting them in our area, unless they decide to just close the Wild Oats we already have.

[Radical Activist]

17. I knew I should have bought their stock.

If I had any money to invest I would have a couple years ago. Oh well.