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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KeepItSimple who wrote (63994)	6/23/1999 9:34:00 AM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

Kis, I don't think Amzn is a scam, only its stock price. Amzn will be around a long, long time, albeit @ a lower stock price. Read below. I like this deal that Amzn owns a piece of. Gota go some buying puts today. >> NEW YORK (AP) - Rite Aid Corp. is accelerating its efforts to sell pharmaceuticals online by buying a 25 percent stake in drugstore.com, the leading pharmacy on the Internet today. Under the deal announced Tuesday, the nation's third-largest drugstore chain will spend $7.6 million for its stake. The alliance will allow shoppers to buy prescription drugs online for delivery by mail or for same-day pickup at any of the 3,800 Rite Aid stores nationwide. The deal is also a big boost to drugstore.com's business because it will be the only online pharmacy that will have access to the more than 50 million consumers whose prescription drug benefits are managed by Rite Aid. ''This gives drugstore.com something that none of their competition has and that is huge for them,'' said David Restrepo, a healthcare analyst at Internet research firm Jupiter Communications. ''This puts them well in the lead of everyone else trying to sell prescription drugs online.'' Rite Aid's investment in the privately held drugstore.com comes just a month after rival CVS Corp. purchased online pharmacy Soma.com for $30 million. Both CVS, the second-largest drugstore chain in the United States, and Rite Aid were looking for quick ways to jump start their presence on the Internet. Many traditional drugstore chains see huge growth potential online as consumers look for more convenient ways to buy prescriptions, especially for those medications they don't need immediately - like birth control or heart drugs. Last year, Americans bought $13.8 billion worth of prescription drugs through the mail, representing about 13.4 percent of the $102 billion in total prescription sales, according to the National Association of Chain Drugstores. Many of the best-known Internet and traditional retailers are betting that the online drug market will take off. Amazon.com purchased a 46 percent stake in drugstore.com in February while the Pittsburgh-based General Nutrition Companies, a vitamin, mineral supplement and natural food merchant, announced Tuesday that it was buying an 8 percent stake. ''This segment of the Internet world is just starting to heat up,'' Restrepo said. Under Tuesday's alliance, drugstore.com will become the exclusive Internet pharmacy for Rite Aid. Customers who visit Rite Aid's Web site will be directed to drugstore.com to place any orders. Presently, Rite Aid only provides refills online. ''This gives us access to a very low-cost capital investment in terms of Internet development that we otherwise would not be able to tap into alone,'' said Martin Grass, chairman and chief executive of the Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid. Drugstore.com, which launched in late February, also said it will begin to rely more on Rite Aid to fill its prescription orders. It presently has a fulfillment contract with mail-order company RxAmerica. Tuesday's deal gives drugstore.com exclusive access to the millions of members affiliated with PCS Health Systems Inc., one of the nation's biggest pharmacy benefit managers bought by Rite Aid last November. PBMs decide what medicines insurance plans will pay for - compiling lists called formularies - and encourage doctors to prescribe only those drugs. One of the biggest challenges that online pharmacies have come up against have been securing agreements with PBMs. Other companies are also lining up exclusive deals to tap into this lucrative market. YourPharmacy.com, a new site that is slated to launch by the end of the month, will be the only Internet drugstore offering prescriptions to the 47 million consumers affiliated with Express Scripts Inc., a PBM based in St. Louis. YourPharmacy.com is a subsidiary of Express Scripts. Both GNC, which is spending $2.4 billion for its stake, and Rite Aid will offer links to a revamped drugstore.com site, which is expected to be launched this fall. GNC already has an agreement with Rite Aid to develop a line of co-branded products, which will be sold on drugstore.com. The alliances still need federal regulatory approval and are expected to close some time this summer. <<