Backing for Amazon’s £11bn Whole Foods deal

INTERNET goliath Amazon is on the brink of a dramatic shake-up of the grocery market after shareholders waved through its £10.7bn takeover of Whole Foods.

The US supermarket chain’s investors gave their backing to the all- cash offer in a vote last night.

It paves the way for a merger which will give Amazon a bricks and mortar presence for the first time, as it looks to extend its domination to food as well as consumer goods and books.

The deal was unveiled in June, sending supermarket shares plummeting.

In Britain – where Whole Foods has just nine stores – £1.5bn was wiped from the value of Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer in a single day.

The deal is still waiting for approval from regulators, although insiders expect it to go through by the end of the year.

US consumers will be able to buy Walmart products using Google’s voiceactivated assistant software from next month onwards. Walmart also owns cut-price British grocer Asda, although the scheme is not yet being introduced in the UK.