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How interesting to see Amazon and Walmart making major acquisitions on the same day. One is for offense, the other is for defense. Goes to show that the futur

How interesting to see Amazon and Walmart making major acquisitions on the same day. One is for offense, the other is for defense. Goes to show that the future is Amazon and not Walmart.

athenot 9y ago
> One is for offense, the other is for defense. I wouldn't be so sure of that. In our tech circle, Amazon is indeed the darling and we love to hate on Walmart. However the latter is definitely skilled at logistics and supply chain optimization. Walmart is skilled in cut-throat margin markets, with the power to shift the upstream supply in order to meet its own goals. They are also better positioned to serve a wider demographic than just the upper middle class.
- exolymph 9y ago
  > Walmart is skilled in cut-throat margin markets, with the power to shift the upstream supply in order to meet its own goals. Granted, so is Amazon.
- bsder 9y ago
  Amazon is the darling. Where have you been, boy? Seriously, Amazon comes in for more than its fair share of (often deserved) hate here on HN.
  - qmarchi 9y ago
    Though never quite reaches the level of WM
champagnepapi 9y ago
Looks like it is a big day for M/A
cookiecaper 9y ago
I like Walmart and I think they're in a very strong position to compete with Amazon. Hopefully acquisitions like this one indicate that they recognize the "disruptive" nature of ecommerce on their traditional business, which necessitates a separation so that the bigger business unit does not accidentally crush the smaller business unit.
- addicted44 9y ago
  WMT is written off way too easily on these forums. It makes more in profits per year than AMZN probably has it's entire history. And I certainly think it's gonna be a lot harder for AMZN to replicate WMT's network of retail stores (which double up as warehouses) than it would be for WMT to replicate any of AMZN's online efforts. In addition, by being a "retailer" WMT also avoids getting into competitive fights with the likes of Apple, Google and Microsoft, all major platform owners, and can instead better partner with them.
MusaTheRedGuard 9y ago
Weird they both announced on a Friday though. Friday is usually a "bury the bad news" day
- fraserharris 9y ago
  Friday at 4p or 5p is for burying bad news.
surement 9y ago
> How interesting to see Amazon and Walmart making major acquisitions on the same day. One is for $13.7B, the other $0.3B.

How interesting to see Amazon and Walmart making major acquisitions on the same day. One is for offense, the other is for defense. Goes to show that the future is Amazon and not Walmart.

athenot 9y ago

> One is for offense, the other is for defense. I wouldn't be so sure of that. In our tech circle, Amazon is indeed the darling and we love to hate on Walmart. However the latter is definitely skilled at logistics and supply chain optimization. Walmart is skilled in cut-throat margin markets, with the power to shift the upstream supply in order to meet its own goals. They are also better positioned to serve a wider demographic than just the upper middle class.

exolymph 9y ago
> Walmart is skilled in cut-throat margin markets, with the power to shift the upstream supply in order to meet its own goals. Granted, so is Amazon.
bsder 9y ago
Amazon is the darling. Where have you been, boy? Seriously, Amazon comes in for more than its fair share of (often deserved) hate here on HN.
- qmarchi 9y ago
  Though never quite reaches the level of WM

champagnepapi 9y ago

Looks like it is a big day for M/A

cookiecaper 9y ago

I like Walmart and I think they're in a very strong position to compete with Amazon. Hopefully acquisitions like this one indicate that they recognize the "disruptive" nature of ecommerce on their traditional business, which necessitates a separation so that the bigger business unit does not accidentally crush the smaller business unit.

addicted44 9y ago
WMT is written off way too easily on these forums. It makes more in profits per year than AMZN probably has it's entire history. And I certainly think it's gonna be a lot harder for AMZN to replicate WMT's network of retail stores (which double up as warehouses) than it would be for WMT to replicate any of AMZN's online efforts. In addition, by being a "retailer" WMT also avoids getting into competitive fights with the likes of Apple, Google and Microsoft, all major platform owners, and can instead better partner with them.

MusaTheRedGuard 9y ago

Weird they both announced on a Friday though. Friday is usually a "bury the bad news" day

fraserharris 9y ago
Friday at 4p or 5p is for burying bad news.

surement 9y ago

> How interesting to see Amazon and Walmart making major acquisitions on the same day. One is for $13.7B, the other $0.3B.