PetSmart acquiring Chewy for $3.35 billion; Where will that leave Pet360?

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email

PetSmart is acquiring Florida-based Chewy.com for $3.35 billion in the largest e-commerce acquisition ever. Notably $50 million more than Walmart's acquisition of Jet.com.

PetSmart made a relatively small bet on ecommerce when it bought Plymouth Meeting-based Pet360 for $130 million plus incentives less than three years ago. This is obviously a much bigger bet.

Pet360 still has a fair number of people in Plymouth Meeting; it will be interesting to see how they fare.

PetSmart's release on the Chewy acquisition makes no mention of Pet360. I've seen no mention of it in any discussions of the Chewy deal.

I asked PetSmart if it had any comment on the role of Pet360 once the Chewy deal was completed, and a spokesperson said that was not something PetSmart would comment on.

In late March, Pet360 took a seven year lease on space for 20 near Grand Central Station NYC.

Mark Vadon, who sold Zulily to Liberty Media / QVC for $2.4 billion, was also behind the Chewy deal as an early investor and chairman.

Meanwhile, Pet360's former CEO Brock Weatherup has gone over to the other side, having sold his latest startup, PetCoach, to Petco and moved to San Diego to work with them as EVP, Strategic Innovation and Digital Experience.

Chewy has a fulfillment center in Mechanicsburg PA.