Whole Foods Market
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Firm forms a new subsidiary, WholePeople.com, by merging its Amrion supplement and direct marketing business and e-commerce unit WholeFoods.com. The company has obtained $35 mil. in financing and expects to hold an initial public offering next year. Launching in the spring, the WholePeople.com Web site will offer nutritional supplements, herbals and alternative/holistic health care products, as well as natural and organic foods, ecologically friendly products and other items. Whole Foods is restructuring Amrion to focus on the direct marketing and private brand divisions. Two "underperforming" segments - the Cevan international and Natrix mass market divisions - are being discontinued