Luxury department store Saks buys Neiman Marcus, and Amazon gets a stake

A luxury retailer is making its own high-end purchase: Saks Fifth Avenue's parent company is buying Neiman Marcus for $2.65 billion, in a merger that would create a dominant upscale department store in the U.S.

HBC, the owner of Saks and the Canadian chain Hudson's Bay, has agreed to buy Neiman Marcus, which also owns Bergdorf Goodman. Amazon will take a stake in the new combined company, slated to provide technology and logistics as part of the deal. Another tech partner, Salesforce, will also be a minority shareholder. The head of Saks.com, Marc Metrick, will run the new combined firm Saks Global.