Kroger-Albertsons merger challenge overview:
- Who: Kroger and Albertsons are facing a lawsuit over their proposed merger from Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
- Why: Ferguson claims the Kroger-Albertsons merger would create a near-monopoly of supermarkets in many parts of the state.
- Where: The Kroger-Albertsons merger challenge was filed in Washington’s King County Superior Court.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed a lawsuit against Kroger and Albertsons over the grocery giants’ proposed merger.
The Kroger-Albertsons merger will severely limit grocery store competition in many areas of the state and eliminate competition to keep prices low, the lawsuit claims.
Ferguson also challenged the grocery chains’ proposal to sell off 104 stores in Washington, arguing the sales will set up the stores to fail and increase unemployment.
Kroger and Albertsons are proposing to sell the Washington stores and an additional 309 nationwide to C&S Wholesale Grocer, which currently operates just 23 stores. The companies also plan for C&S Wholesale, which currently operates a single pharmacy, to take over the stores’ pharmacies and gas stations as part of the sale, Ferguson’s office said in a press release.
“This merger is bad for Washington shoppers and workers,” the attorney general said. “Free enterprise is built on companies competing, and that competition benefits consumers. Shoppers will have fewer choices and less competition, and, without a competitive marketplace, they will pay higher prices at the grocery store. That’s not right, and this lawsuit seeks to stop this harmful merger.”
Kroger, Albertsons already own more than half of Washington’s grocery stores
Kroger and Albertsons are the second- and fourth-largest grocery chains in the U.S.; they have a combined 700,000 employees and nearly 5,000 stores across 49 states.
They are also currently the two largest supermarket chains in Washington, operating more than 50% of grocery stores statewide employing approximately 21,000 workers. Kroger owns QFC and Fred Meyer stores, while Albertsons owns Safeway and Haggen in addition to its eponymous stores.
If it were allowed to go through, the merger would eliminate head-to-head competition between the two chains; each company considers the other’s stores to be their primary competitors, Ferguson’s office said.
Albertsons also recently paid out a class action settlement of more than $1 million in an Illinois biometric information lawsuit.
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