Amazon To Shutter Care Unit By Year-End: Decision 'Not Made Lightly'

Amazon.com, Inc AMZN is shutting down its primary healthcare service at the end of 2022.

What Happened: Neil Lindsay, Amazon Health Services senior vice president, said the decision to shutter Amazon Care “wasn’t made lightly and only became clear after many months of careful consideration,” reported GeekWire, which cited an internal company memo.

Lindsay said the service was not a “complete enough offering for large enterprise customers” it had been targeting and “wasn’t going to work long-term.”

Amazon Care will no longer be offered after Dec. 31, according to Lindsay.
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Why It Matters: Launched in 2019 as a health care program for Amazon employees at the headquarters in Seattle, Amazon Care expanded its presence nationwide this year.

Last month, it was announced that the Jeff Bezos-founded e-commerce giant was acquiring 1Life Healthcare Inc ONEM, which operates under the name “One Medical” for $3.9 billion. One Medical provides primary-care services in-person as well as virtually.

Amazon said the business model for Amazon Care wasn’t working before it agreed to acquire One Medical, reported GeekWire.

Lindsay said that Amazon Care employees will have an “opportunity to join other parts of the Health Services organization or other teams at Amazon.” He said that the company would support employees looking for roles outside of Amazon.

Price Action: On Wednesday, Amazon shares closed 0.1% lower at $133.80 in the regular session and were mostly unchanged in the extended trading, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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