
Amazon eyes Carrefour acquisition - polskibus
https://www.retaildetail.eu/en/news/food/amazon-eyes-carrefour-acquisition
======
dang
This is a story about a newspaper reporting a rumor. That's way too flimsy to
be on topic.

On HN, we wait until a thing actually happens. There's no harm in doing so,
and then there's substance to discuss.

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20%22actually%20happen...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20%22actually%20happens%22&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=comment)

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grondilu
I'm French, and I can tell you Carrefour is a very famous brand in France. So
to me there is no way Amazon will buy it, I just don't see this being accepted
by public opinion, and thus by the French government.

~~~
yodsanklai
> I just don't see this being accepted by public opinion, and thus by the
> French government

Do they have a word to say on the issue?

~~~
runeks
I’m also interested in hearing how willing the French government is to prevent
the acquisition of a French private company. I’d think this should be up to
the owners of the company in question, but the people of France may disagree
with me.

~~~
grondilu
There is a rich legal background surrounding mergers and acquisitions in
financial markets, not to mention the antitrust laws.

The French government can even write new laws if need be. France is only
theoretically capitalistic, in practice the weight of the government is heavy
on companies.

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Animats
Carrefour is a big chain. About 12,000 stores. About 20x as many stores as
Whole Foods. Most of them are convenience stores. That would give Amazon a
very visible brick-and-mortar presence in Europe, approaching 7-11 in the US.

A chain of convenience stores is useful to Amazon. They'll all get Amazon
Lockers, of course. You'll be able to get everything Amazon sells at those
stores, if you just order ahead. They'll probably have same-day delivery to
their own stores.

Small scale retail in France is going to take a big hit from this.

~~~
yodsanklai
> A chain of convenience stores is useful to Amazon. They'll all get Amazon
> Lockers, of course. You'll be able to get everything Amazon sells at those
> stores, if you just order ahead.

I don't know how much it costs Amazon but this is already the case. I always
get my Amazon products from the Carrefour next door.

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karambahh
Carrefour is a state of crisis both internally (the newly appointed ceo is
quoted as having "vowed to clean the mess", several high ranking executives
have been shown the door or been effectively demoted) and externally (shares
have been tumbling for quite a while).

Anything is possible but, to me, an attempt to raise valuation is the most
likely explanation. Sources are always "analysts" who seem to have skin in the
game.

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nomercy400
Why would I, as a European, want to buy my groceries from an American company?
It's not like the big shopping malls like Walmart or Costco are so appealing.
Surely we can manage a suitable groceries network on our own.

~~~
anonu
Your comment points to the fact that the globalisation project we've embarked
on for close to 70 years is either sick or dying... What does it matter if the
company still employs Europeans and supports local economies?

~~~
tomc1985
American business culture/ethic writ large is not really very compatible (or
welcoming) of others' practices. Hegemony sucks when you're under it.

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twiss
> For competitors like Ahold Delhaize, it would be another blow

I'm not sure that's a very good example of a competitor. Carrefour is French,
Ahold is Dutch. They don't compete in France, nor in the Netherlands. They
both have supermarkets in Belgium, though. Furthermore, Carrefour is known for
their hypermarkets which are much larger than regular supermarkets.

~~~
karambahh
Delhaize is a major player on the US market via its "food lion" brand (off the
top of my head about 2k stores).

Ahold Delhaize merger is rumored to be a failure. There is an on going war
between Dutch and Belgian executives. Recently a Dutch has been appointed ceo
of the belgian entity, which was not very well received at all.

Ahold Delhaize is a competitor to Carrefour not only in Belgium but also in
eastern Europe (but these are still relatively small markets).

Afaik they have no shops in Latin America nor China, where Carrefour has
strong positions.

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curiousgal
Carrefour is quite present in North Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia..) as
well, this would give Amazon quite the global reach!

~~~
golem14
Carrefour has also stores in Asia (e.g. a honking big branch in Shenyang, near
the financial center).

Edit: Google maps finds eleven Carrefour stores in Shenyang alone.

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mkhalil
> "Cheuvreux analysts as saying that dispite these rumours, they still feel a
> collaboration with Google would be more probable for Carrefour than an
> acquisition by Amazon."

I wonder why they think that? What could collaboration with Google bring?

~~~
halflings
Technology and exposure. Product Search is quite big, if just hasn't been
capitalized on enough (other than by Amazon)

~~~
karambahh
Digital is a notorious pain point for Carrefour. Their CDO has been replaced
last week by a long time coworker of Alexandre Bompart (newly appointed CEO of
Groupe Carrefour).

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tarikozket
Finally, my American friends will know something about Carrefour.

~~~
agumonkey
Don't worry, some of them are still trying to figure out the psychedelic logo.

~~~
marindez
Spoiler: it's a C.

~~~
agumonkey
Oh come on, put a proper spoiler tag around that, people aren't ready for that
kind of truth.

Here: [https://pastebin.com/4FAB8Fuy](https://pastebin.com/4FAB8Fuy)

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Xoros
Don't forget that Carrefour also have shops in Brazil, China, Taiwan...

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thetalkingcode
AI is not going to rule the world. It will be Amazon.

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amelius
[https://stallman.org/amazon.html](https://stallman.org/amazon.html)

> Amazon has so much power over the US retail economy that it imposes its
> power over all participants.

> If it is going to be a monopoly, it should be regulated like other
> monopolies. Or perhaps more.

> Amazon has so much market share that its sheer size distorts the market.

> We should not allow a company to have a share over around 10% of any market.
> If in a certain field a single dominant company is beneficial for society,
> that means it is a natural monopoly, and should be served by a regulated
> utility.

~~~
donavanm
And yet no rant on the 6 other companies with larger US sales revenue
[https://stores.org/stores-top-retailers-2017/](https://stores.org/stores-top-
retailers-2017/). I like that subtle inferred redefinition of "monopoly" as
well. Maybe we can just use "decapoly" though. Or how about "rmsnotlikopoly"?

