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Here are the 5 times Amazon has panicked investors in other companies

Amazon has repeatedly showed an uncanny ability to disrupt entire segments of the stock market with corporate announcements.

  • Amazon has repeatedly showed an uncanny ability to disrupt entire segments of the stock market with corporate announcements.
  • The most recent example is Amazon's new package-delivery service, which will compete with FedEx and UPS, and sent shares of the two companies lower.
  • It's a dynamic that's played out repeatedly in recent months.
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Amazon's plan to debut a package-delivery service may have rocked competing companies like UPS and FedEx, but it's far from the first time Jeff Bezos & Co. have imposed their will on the market.

The company has made a habit out of crushing competitor market values with even the most basic of announcements, and their delivery initiative is just the latest example of that.

The reasoning is simple — Amazon has a ton of cash and an unparalleled logistical network, and when it looks poised to enter or expand its position in a market, traders get scared and bail out of existing holdings in other companies.

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Amazon has done this so regularly, in fact, that it can be difficult to keep all the instances straight. That's where we come in.

Below you'll find a list summarizing recent examples of companies getting "Amazon'd" — the Business Insider-coined term for when a stock finds itself at the whim of the ever-expanding juggernaut.

February 2018 — Package-delivery stocks tumble after Amazon says it will launch its own competing service

Shares of UPS and FedEx traded sharply lower in the pre-market the day of this report. With Amazon planning to undercut the costs of the other delivery giants, investors in the companies started anticipating the negative effect of lower package volume.

Amazon's move pushes it further into logistics and delivery, leasing of aircraft ocean freight equipment.

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January 2018 — Healthcare stocks tumble after Amazon, JPMorgan, and Berkshire Hathaway announce collaboration to reduce costs for US workers

While the three companies weren't specific about what kind of enterprise they aim to create, noting only that they wanted to improve employee satisfaction while reducing costs, the announcement reverberated through the stock market.

Managed care and pharmacy providers absorbed the brunt of the selling, with companies including MetLife, Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth seeing large share drops that accounted for billions of dollars in lost value.

June 2017 — Grocery stocks slide after Amazon announces $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods ... and then again two months later after price cuts are announced

Amazon hit grocery stocks with a double-whammy of weakness in this particular instance, causing an initial drop after announcing its mega-acquisition of Whole Foods, then reigniting selling two months later after cutting prices.

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The companies affected included Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market, Target, and Walmart, which fell anywhere from 2% to 8% on the various reports.

June 2017 — Athletic apparel retailers slide after report that Amazon was going to partner with Nike

In June 2017, Goldman Sachs published a report speculating that Nike was "close" to commencing a direct relationship selling product on Amazon.com. That caused selling in both athletic apparel manufacturers, as well as retail chains.

The companies affected included Dick's Sporting Goods, Under Armour, and Foot Locker.

June 2017 — Pharmaceutical supply chain stocks decline after Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods spurred speculation it could eventually get into healthcare

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Clearly the market was prescient in this instance, considering the aforementioned team-up between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan, and the resulting selloff in healthcare stocks.

Back in June, when the Whole Foods acquisition was announced, CVS, Walgreens, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, and Express Scripts all lost between 1% and 5%.

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