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[Guevara]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in talks to buy online discount retailer Jet.com Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, in what would mark a disappointing end for one of the most ambitious challengers to Amazon.com Inc.

A deal would give Wal-Mart’s e-commerce efforts a much-needed jolt as it seeks to grow beyond its brick-and-mortar storefronts with speedy home delivery from a network of massive suburban warehouses.

For Jet, a takeover by an old-line retailer would demonstrate the challenges of attempting to go it alone in the hypercompetitive e-commerce market. The company has sought to underprice Amazon with a vast marketplace that would require billions of dollars in funding and a plan to rely more on suppliers than warehouse inventory.

It isn’t clear how much Wal-Mart would pay, but a person familiar with the matter said Jet could be worth as much as $3 billion.

Jet, barely a year old, has drawn more than $500 million in capital from the likes of venture firms New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners, mutual-fund company Fidelity Investments and bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The funding, and a valuation over $1 billion, are massive sums for a company facing the prospect of years of losses and an uphill climb to draw loyal users. Jet projected it would burn through hundreds of millions of dollars in its first few years, spending much of that money on marketing to draw customers to its website.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/wal-mart-in-talks-to-buy-web-retailer-jet-com-1470237311

Kind of forgot about Jet to be honest, but I've been getting a lot of coupons in the mail.

 

[BronzeWolf]

Go at it. Jet is kind of a complicated deal

 

[LiK]

Jet is worth that much?

 

[GKSilKamina]

I just registered for a Jet account less than a month ago. So much for that, I guess...

 

[AlteredBeast]

Jet sucks. Absolutely terrible competition to Amazon.

 

[DeadlyVirus]

From what I know, Jet is only a couple of years old...

 

[malfcn]

Pay day already?

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Jet was an abject failure and still sold for 3 billion.

 

[mackattk]

How is this place worth $3 billion? Have they even made any sort of profit yet? From what I have seen, they drop ship things from other retailers. I don't even know if they have any inventory or warehouses of their own.

 

[Stumpokapow]

jet is really not good at doing the things it is supposedly designed to do. product listings are pretty poor, availability is scattershot, prices are no better than amazon's, i didn't think shipping or service were any better than usual, and the coupons that they're using to entices purchases seem to vary wildly leaving me the impression i'm never getting the best deal i could be. i can't imagine jet has better supply chain stuff than wal-mart.

 

[Onaco]

Jet, don't do it. You're going to be amongst a sea of imbeciles who think their inventory system written in 1987 is still state of the art.

 

[Zackat]

So you make a couple commercials and you get to sell for 3 billion.

 

[DrFunk]

Amazon: *laughs*

 

[Walter White Walker]

They do marketing? I've never seen any. I pretty much forgot they even exist.

 

[MJPIA]

I bought a ton of stuff at the beginning when they had insane ridiculously low prices but now the pretty small discounts compared to amazon haven't been worth the hassle to me.

I do love that since I shopped there before they publicly opened as a tester I got to have my name painted on a wall at their office so somewhere on a wall of names there exists the name ~oniichan

 

[Guevara]

Jet was an abject failure and still sold for 3 billion.

That's what I see too.

Raised $500 million, sold for 6x in just a couple years.

 

[mnannola]

What does walmart gain by buying them? They already have a ecommerce site. Does Jet have a ton of infrastructure set up that Walmart is lacking? Is their website that much better? I don't get it.

 

[andythinkpad]

Jet sucks. Absolutely terrible competition to Amazon.

The only way to use jet.com is create another new account and use the 20% or $20 off coupon.

 

[Rizific]

i bought my last 2 graphics cards from jet for a significantly lower price than any competitor. but thats due to using the 10% off first purchase thing. my most recent purchase actually shipped from newegg, in a newegg labeled box and everything.

 

[NastyBook]

Welp! That was quick. Better use the $10 off before it becomes worthless.

 

[BobLoblaw]

I recently used jet to help me build my pc. If this goes through, I'm not going back. Fuck Walmart.

 

[digitalrelic]

I've actually had great luck with Jet. I've had orders arrive the next day at times. Never more than 3 days. Customer service has been great too. Mix that with their 15-20% off coupons and they're also often the cheapest place to buy many items.

My biggest issue is I have no idea how they're making any money.

 

[Krakatoa]

I used Jet twice, both times I was underwhelmed by the shipping times. Until they step up to Amazon speeds they have lost.

Oh and they originally wanted $50 to sign up. LOL

 

[SirClinksAlot]

I signed up for a free account when they launched and never once have I ordered from them.

 

[RuGalz]

Occasionally Jet has way better price on certain items than Amazon even without the new account discount... I hope they can grow bigger while stay independent.

 

[tearsintherain]

Only reason jet works right now at all is because people are able to finagle sometimes amazing deals due to errors, coupons, or minor windows of price fluctuations.

The second Walmart buys them and realizes "hey we can't sell stuff at a loss! Lets fix that first!" is the moment when jet loses like 90% of its orders.

What a stupid, stupid purchase. I guess I can't really complain that much about $3b flowing from walmart to other people, but ultimately the shareholders of walmart will pay that and its a widely held stock in retirement funds.

 

[Ivan 3414]

Jet sucks. Absolutely terrible competition to Amazon.

Considering the heat and borderline vitrolic banter Wal-Mart has directed at Amazon, there's a possibility that might change.

 

[Joe]

Jet created a lot of large-scale retail infrastructure. They might not have been able to make it all work but all that work is potentially worth something substantial and Wal-Mart wants a crack at it.

 

[Illucio]

I signed up for a free account when they launched and never once have I ordered from them.

^^^ Same boat.

I think the way they handle their site is complicated and not user friendly. Let alone that I don't feel like I'm getting a discount compared to say Amazon.

 

[Klocker]

Walmart Already paying slave wages but at least they employ people, now the want to eliminate all those pesky employees from their business model altogether... profit!

 

[Defuser]

3 billion? Is Jet really worth that much?

 

[bennywhatever]

I feel like this was Jet's plan all along.
-Create competitor to large corporation
-Market it as a killer to its competitor
-Have one or two things it does well
-Sell off to other major corporation

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

The only thing jet has going for it is the 1st time user coupon. You can save crazy amounts of money if you buy something expensive.

 

[therealist]

This move cements Walmart as the #3 ecommerce giant only behind amazon and alibaba. Not bad to be #1 in retail stores and #3 in ecommerce.

 

[ghostofsparta]

1. Make a tech start up
2. Make crappy product
3. Somehow stay in the game
4.??
5. Profit

 

[Acrylic7]

But if they do that Jet will only have 1% discounts on clearance items.

 

[jstripes]

Jet, don't do it. You're going to be amongst a sea of imbeciles who think their inventory system written in 1987 is still state of the art.

Rolling out a new inventory system isn't something to be taken lightly.

Just ask Target about their adventures in Canada.

 

[NinjaMouse]

Amazon: *laughs*

Amazon ain't laughing at anything. The founders of Jet about to strike gold for a second time so I'd think they are the ones laughing.

 

[Stat Flow]

No one is usurping Amazon in their space.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

Jesus, I was wondering why Wal Mart was buying Jet (as in the magazine) and I was worried and confused.

 

[lightskintwin]

Black folks on the come up?

Nevermind, i thought they were referring to Jet Magazine.

Edit: Dammit, Cindi beat me on the joke.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

Well, I have a stackable $20 off and a 12% off I need to use asap on a 1070 then

 

[HariKari]

Use jet regularly but only because of coupon codes they send out. I don't see the value in it for Wal Mart.

 

[Redd]

Jet online is good if you you know how to get the discounts. Never had a problem with them because I want the cheapest price possible and a lot of times Jet is it.