Amazon.com Buys Into HomeGrocer.com

Amazon.com, known for selling books on the Internet, is moving into groceries. The company announced today that it is paying $42.5 million for a 35% stake in Bellevue-based HomeGrocer.com, which operates an online grocery-delivery service in the Seattle and Portland, OR, areas.

The investment will allow HomeGrocer to speed up its national expansion, the companies said in a news release. HomeGrocer hopes to be operating in half a dozen cities by the end of the year, said HomeGrocer CEO Terry Drayton.