Cleanup in the Court: Kroger-Albertsons Merger has Gone Bad

The proposed merger between Albertsons and Kroger was put back on the shelf after being blocked by courts. Had this $25 billion merger gone through, it would have marked not only the largest grocery merger to date, but also one of the largest retail mergers in history. Earlier this year, the FTC flagged the merger, stating that it was in violation of antitrust laws and began the legal battle to prevent it.

Checkout the Facts: A couple of key arguments were at the forefront of this case, and the judge didn’t buy what the grocers were selling. The Kroger-Albertsons team argued that this merger was necessary for them to be able to compete in an everchanging grocery market, stating that nontraditional competitors like Walmart and Amazon were taking up too much shelf space. However, the judges and the prosecution had a different view of the aisle, having a much more narrow view of who their competitors in the market really were. Concerns were also raised by the FTC that this merger would create the largest employer of union grocery workers, potentially causing a monopsony for unionized grocery workers to occur.

WY We Care: Across our state, we have a total of ten Albertsons stores, and five of those were set to be sold if the merger had gone through. Beyond the impact that the merger would have had on individual Wyoming stores, it raises the issue of where the line should lie between antitrust aiding and impeding the free market enterprise that your Wyoming Chamber fights to preserve. We will continue to fight to uphold free market principles across our great state and nation, and keep you in the know with our efforts and relevant news.