Wow, I didn't see this one coming!According to a story that just hit the Dow Jones newswires, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) will reportedly be buying Walgreens (WAG)!
Folks, this is a major move and will completely reshape the pharmacy industry. I conservatively estimate that the combined buying power of the two companies will exceed even CVS Caremark.
This also puts a new spin on drug wholesaler contracts. Cardinal Health (CAH) supplies Walgreens, while McKesson (MCK) supplies Wal-Mart. Look for another race-to-the-bottom margin slugfest when this contract comes up for re-bid!
From what I understand, Wal-Mart plans to rebrand all Walgreens retail pharmacies as "Wal*Wal" stores.
So far, there's no comment on this name from Pennsylvania-based convenience store operator WaWa. However, one of my lawyer friends works at Disney and told me that Disney may seek to block the deal because of possible consumer confusion with Wall-E.
I'll be following this story closely and will post more as details are released.
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Hey, did anybody else notice what today is? Oh yeah, it's April Fools' Day. Enjoy!
