Thread regarding Whole Foods Market Inc. layoffs

At least one other company seriously courted Whole Foods Market Inc. in a takeover bid and four private equity firms were circling to potentially finance a leveraged buyout before the Austin-based grocery chain agreed to be acquired by Amazon.com Inc. for about $13.7 billion in cash.

That's according to a securities filing, which highlights the intricate moves of Whole Foods co-founder and CEO John Mackey and other top executives as they wrangled over the future of the company.

The timeline begins in April, when New York City-based hedge fund Jana Partners LLC disclosed a nearly 9 percent stake in Whole Foods and pushed publicly for the company to consider a sale or significant operational changes. On April 18, Mackey and John Elstrott, then chairman of the Whole Foods board, received a letter from an unidentified "Company X" in the same industry as Whole Foods asking to meet to discuss "strategic opportunities."

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The first contact between Amazon and representatives of Whole Foods occurred in late April. Mackey had been discussing media reports about Amazon's reported interest in buying Whole Foods with Ken Meyer, executive vice president of operations, and an outside consultant when the consultant offered to make a telephone introduction with the Seattle-based e-commerce giant. On April 21 the consultant called Jay Carner, Amazon's senior vice president of corporate affairs, and the first face-to-face meeting between Whole Foods and Amazon was set up on April 30.

Then on May 8 another unidentified suitor, "Company Y," threw another wrench into the mix by contacting Elstrott about "a potential business relationship."

Company X finally sat down with Whole Foods on May 18 and said that if it were to submit a bid, it would likely value it at $35 to $40 per share and that any deal would require "substantial borrowing." Company Y also spoke over the phone with Whole Foods on May 18 to discuss potential supply relationships but not a merger.

On May 23, Amazon submitted its first bid for Whole Foods at $41 per share. In the subsequent days, the Seattle company also delivered a stern warning: it was not interested in "a multiparty sale process" and would call off the deal "in the event of a rumor or leak of a potential transaction."

Whole Foods countered with $45 per share. But in a June 1 call to Whole Foods, Goldman Sachs Keith Manbeck, who replaced Flanagan ($3.8 million); A.C. Gallo, X ($3.8 million); and David Lannon, one of the company's two executive vice presidents of operations ($3 million).

Meanwhile, Mackey would not earn any golden parachute. Walter Robb, who served as co-CEO alongside Mackey until stepping down at the end of 2016, would receive $55,760.

Whole Foods is the largest public company in Austin with some 87,000 global employees, including about 3,000 in Central Texas. It recorded fiscal 2016 revenue of about $15.7 billion.

Its buyout by Whole Foods is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, and is expected to close by the end of 2017.

Will Anderson coordinates digital coverage of business news and coverages a wide variety of topics, from consumer goods to health care.