Whole Foods Still On Track For World Domination

Whole Foods Market yesterday announced a merger agreement with fellow organic grocery chain Wild Oats Markets. The deal, worth approximately $700 million, will see the Austin-based Fortune 500 company effectively taking over and eventually rebranding most of Wild Oats Markets' 110 stores. Locally, Wild Oats operates as Sun Harvest Farms.

"Wild Oats Markets and Whole Foods Market have both had a large and positive impact on the natural and organic foods movement throughout the United States, helping lead the industry to nationwide acceptance and to becoming one of the fastest growing segments in food retailing today," said John Mackey, chairman and CEO of Whole Foods Market. "The growth opportunity in this category has led to increased competition from many players, most of whom are not dedicated natural and organic foods supermarkets, but are considerably larger than we are."

Founded in Austin nearly three decades ago, Whole Foods has made 18 retail acquisitions in the past, with this merger being its largest and most geographically diverse. The company's stock took a substantial dive last November after it announced lowered revenue outlooks for 2007, but this week shot back up nearly 11%.

Photo by Todd Ross Nienkerk for That Other Paper on flickr