Last April, Jana Partners revealed it had acquired an 8.3% ownership stake in Whole Foods, and publicly stated that its goal was to gain board representation in order to lobby for a number of changes at the company, including a potential sale or merger.
In a series of transactions on the open market between February and May, Jana paid between $29 and $32 per share. Last month, Amazon agreed to buy Whole Foods for $42 per share.
And last week, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jana stated that it began selling Whole Foods shares shortly after the Amazon deal was announced, and ultimately sold more than 23 million shares for a profit of approximately $300 million.