Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
CVS acquisition of Aetna would be the biggest deal in health insurance history
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/26/cvs-deal-for-aetna-would-be-biggest-in-history-of-health-insurance.htmlCVS acquisition of Aetna would be the biggest deal in health insurance history
Evelyn Cheng | Thomas Franck
Published 1 Hour Ago Updated 1 Hour Ago
CVS Health appears willing to pay top dollar for a health insurer in an effort to hold its own against competitors.
If drugstore operator CVS bought health insurer Aetna at the reported price of at least $200 per share, the $66 billion deal would be the largest ever in health insurance history, according to an analysis of Thomson Reuters data. The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, reported that CVS was in talks to buy the health insurer.
The news comes as the $467 billion e-commerce giant Amazon.com has been quietly exploring ways to expand into the pharmaceutical industry. Jeff Bezos' company has also contributed to the struggles of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers like CVS.
"They needed to defend the business from encroachment by Amazon," RBC Capital Markets analyst George Hill told CNBC. "Amazon's ability to impact the business over the near to mid term is low, but the ability to impact the stock is high."