Ocado shares rally on Amazon acquisition speculation
Speculation that Ocado might be Amazon's next acquisition target has pushed the online supermarket's shares up 8.23% after the 16 June, £10.7bn ($13.5bn) Whole Foods Market takeover was announced. Even though negative reaction to the news may be overdone - UK supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Marks and Spencer's stock prices fell 4.29%, 3.85% and 1.88% respectively by the close of last week - analyst Nick Bubb suggests that longer-term, the writing is on the wall for traditional grocers. 

Ocado shares have shot up in value since the announcement of Amazon‘s £10.7 billion takeover of Whole Foods last week, while traditional grocers see stock prices fall.

Investors are expecting Ocado to be next on Amazon‘s shopping list, boosting share prices 8.23 per cent to 298.5p.

READ MORE: Amazon set to acquire Whole Foods for £10.7bn

Conversely, bricks-and-mortar grocery giants Tesco and Sainsbury‘s saw their share prices tumble on Friday, dropping 4.29 and 3.85 per cent respectively.

Marks & Spencer‘s also saw a 1.88 per cent drop in its share prices before trading closed last week.

“It is not clear how a physical store base of only nine units in the UK will help Whole Foods in the short-term to catapault Amazon Fresh up the Online grocery rankings, so the negative stockmarket reaction to the news on Friday looks a bit overdone, even if in the long-term the writing is on the wall,” retail analyst Nick Bubb said.

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