#Kroger merger

[rodspurethoughts]

Major Moves in the Grocery Aisle: Understanding the Kroger-Albertsons Merger and Its Impact in California

Photo by SHVETS production on Pexels.com In a bold stroke reshaping the landscape of supermarket shopping in Southern California, Kroger and Albertsons have decided to sell off 63 of their stores in a significant development emerging from their proposed $25 billion merger. This decision marks a crucial step toward complying with regulatory requirements and moving ahead with what is poised to be…

[odinsblog]

“Only a handful of companies control the cereal market. And the cost to consumer is really interesting because Americans are used to fewer choices. I'm thinking about the impact of Walmart on smaller businesses. The trade-off was that the prices were cheap. But in reality, we are actually paying more because we have less choice.

What's happened is when you have concentrated power over any market, those who have the power get to dictate wages to the workers and also what they pay to their suppliers. And in the food system, that would be farmers, ranchers. And if you look at what's happened in the last 40 years in the United States, we've had remarkably stagnant wages for ordinary Americans and we've had a huge decline in the number of farmers and ranchers and the middleman is able to take the profit.

And that's why you need competitive markets. That's what capitalism is supposed to be about, but what we really have is a form of corporate socialism. And once four companies control about 40% of a market, you don't really have competition anymore because they're able to signal to one another price increases.

They're able to signal to one another how much they want to pay suppliers. A good analogy would be, let's say you want to sell your house. If you're going to sell your house, you want 50 to 60 people really eager to buy it. But if there's only one or maybe two, you're much more likely to get a lower price. And that's what America's farmers and ranchers have now found. And it's devastated the countryside as a result.

But when we go to the grocery store, we go right down any major city street and we see several grocery stores, we actually think we're looking at different stores with different options. And that’s really not true.

You know, when you go to the supermarket, there are thousands of products and you think they're independent companies, but they're made by a handful of companies. The Biden administration right now is trying to block the merger of Kroger's and Albertsons.

These are the two biggest supermarket chains, but you wouldn't necessarily realize it because they operate under dozens of different names. So I'm just going to give you some of Kroger's, for example, supermarkets. Ralph's, Dillon's, Smith's, King's Super's, Fry's, QFC, City Market, Owens, JC, Baker's, Harris Teeter, Pick and Save, Metro Market, Fred Meyer, and then Albertsons's, Safeway, Vaughan's, Shaw's, Tom Thumb, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Cars, King Foods, on and on and on.

So you think you have a choice of dozens of different supermarkets, but it's only two. And if this merger is allowed to go through, it'll only be one.”

—The illusion of choice and the oligopolization of the food industry

[follow-up-news]

Grocery chain Albertsons called off its $25 billion merger with Kroger, ending the largest proposed merger in US supermarket history. “We have made the difficult decision to terminate the merger agreement,” Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran said in a statement Wednesday. The merger, announced in 2022, sought to combine the fifth and tenth largest retailers in the country. The companies own dozens of grocery chains, including Safeway, Vons, Harris Teeter and Fred Meyer. Albertsons also sued Kroger for breach of its contract agreement, alleging Kroger caused the merger to be blocked. Albertsons said that Kroger failed to exercise its “best efforts” and to take “any and all actions” to secure regulatory approval of the merger.

[onlytiktoks]

Oh, and for no reason...

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Reuters, via The Guardian:

A US judge blocked the pending $25bn merger of US grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons on Tuesday, siding with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a win for the Biden administration. The FTC argued at a three-week trial in Portland, Oregon, that the merger would eliminate head-to-head competition between the top two traditional grocery chains, leading to higher prices for shoppers and reduced bargaining leverage for unionized workers. Kroger fought those claims, saying the deal would bring prices down, particularly at Albertsons stores, where it said prices are 10-12% higher than at Kroger stores. The merged company would fund price cuts through cost savings it expects from a larger operation, and a larger customer base to drive revenue for Kroger’s data consulting business, Kroger said.

The Kroger-Albertsons merger got blocked.

[ranger-kellyn]

i don’t have the words to properly describe it, but it’s all bullshit isn’t it??? “can’t create a monopoly so im going to sue what would have been the other half of my monopoly for failing to secure a monopoly.” like????????

[political-social-memedom]

God I hope Biden and many states suing the FTC prevents the Kroger Albertsons merger.

[nationallawreview]

Kroger/Albertsons Ruling Provides Lessons for Merger Remedy Divestitures

On December 10, a federal court in Oregon issued a preliminary injunction against Kroger’s proposed $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons, which would have been the largest supermarket merger in US history (Albertsons terminated the merger agreement after the ruling).1 The Federal Trade Commission, the District of Columbia, and eight States filed the suit in February 2024, alleging that the…

[theknightlywolfe]

Some more good news fellow USians.

"The move came the day after two judges halted the merger in separate court cases. U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson issued a preliminary injunction blocking the merger Tuesday after holding a three-week hearing in Portland, Oregon. An hour later, Judge Marshall Ferguson in Seattle issued a permanent injunction barring the merger in Washington after concluding it would lessen competition in the state and violate consumer-protection laws."

...

"Albertsons said Kroger refused to divest the assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignored regulators' feedback and rejected stronger divestiture buyers.

Kroger willfully breached the Merger Agreement in several key ways, including by repeatedly refusing to divest assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignoring regulators’ feedback, rejecting stronger divestiture buyers and failing to cooperate with Albertsons."

[nobodyhad2020vision]

The Kroger Albertson's merger is dead!

[lejournaldupeintre]

Surging grocery prices in focus as US tries to stop Kroger deal

FTC and US states argue merger will harm competition and raise prices Kroger and Albertsons claim merger needed to compete with Walmart, Amazon Kroger pledges $1 billion in price cuts, plans to sell 579 stores if deal proceeds The U.S. Federal Trade Commission argued in federal court on Monday that Kroger’s (KR.N),  $25 billion merger with rival grocer Albertsons (ACI.N) is bad for shoppers in…

[rodspurethoughts]

Kroger, Albertsons, and C&S Announce Updated Divestiture Plan to Boost Competition

Kroger, Albertsons Companies, and C&S Wholesale Grocers have recently announced an updated and expanded divestiture plan as part of their proposed merger. This new plan is a response to concerns raised by antitrust regulators regarding the original agreement and aims to enhance competition in overlapping regions. The amended divestiture package includes an increase in the number of stores,…

[gitzette]

🚨 Breaking News: FTC Steps in to Block the Kroger-Albertsons Merger! 🚨 Wondering how this unprecedented move will affect you? From potential price hikes to the impact on employees, discover all the details of this major market shake-up. Don’t miss out on the full scoop! #KrogerAlbertsonsMerger #MarketPower #ConsumerImpact

[zwoelffarben]

Getting fucked over by a corperate merger that the FTC shouldnta approved is a right of passage among workers.

God, I dont hope it happen to me with regard to the albertson-kroger merger looming over the near horizon.

[wack-ashimself]

Cool...cool... Don't care. Just don't crush the eggs or bread...

Heard something along the lines of (and this guy would NOT stop talking. Seriously, as a loud outspoken person, even I was going wtf. Shut up. Cuz the customers were CLEARLY going 'ok....ok....'):

"I support our troops cuz they saved my kid when he went over there."

*ahem.

YOUR KID WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN IN DANGER FROM LOCALS IN A COUNTRY FOREIGN TO YOUR SON IF HE HADN'T VOLUNTEERED TO GO OVER AND FIGHT A GENUINELY MEANINGLESS WAR OVER RESOURCES AND WORLD DOMINATION FOR RICH GREEDY PSYCHOPATHS!

YOUR SON PUT HIMSELF IN DANGER trying to possibly harm innocent people that NEVER did him wrong, and you're praising the other people who did the same for saving him?

'Saving him' means, more than likely, they killed people....people who never would have been a threat to your son OR the other soldiers IF THEY HAD NOT JUST BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! THEY HAD NO REASON TO BE THERE BESIDES IT WAS A JOB. Killing as a job is one of the largest in the USA. FBI, CIA, ICE, Cops, Private contractors, Military, Border patrol, etc.

USA's #1 profit maker is making people dead (or selling the means to others) so we can steal their shit. PERIOD.

<is what I should have said to the bagboy at krogers....yeah. Guy older than me, bagboy, bragging about his almost killed solider son....even I admit-not the time. Just...do they think about the LOGIC of what they are saying?>