It’s official. Walmart is purchasing nascent e-tailer Jet.com for $3 billion.
The world’s largest retailer said a portion of the $3 billion will be deferred over time including $300 million of Walmart shares.
The world’s largest retailer is attempting to close the online gap between itself and its primary rival, Amazon. While Walmart rung up $14 billion in online sales last year, Amazon’s approached $100 billion and it is growing sales at a much faster pace then Walmart.
Jet’s co-founder and CEO Marc Lore will be retained to run Walmart’s entire U.S. e-commerce operation and continue to run Jet.com as a standalone site. Lore will report to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon.
Lore founded Jet.com in 2014 as an online-only retail discounting site but has yet to show a profit. His first foray into e-tailing, Diapers.com, was sold to Amazon in 2011 for $550 million.
