What happened?
The Federal Trade Commission sued Monday to block the $24.6 billion merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons. Nine states joined the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Oregon. The combination of Kroger and Albertsons and their several brands would be the largest grocery merger yet.
Who said what?
"Kroger's acquisition of Albertsons would lead to additional grocery price hikes for everyday goods," said Henry Liu, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition. The merger would "ensure our neighborhood supermarkets can better compete" with "mega retailers" like Walmart, Costco and Amazon, Albertsons said, "benefiting our customers," workers and communities.
The commentary
The lawsuit "shows that the FTC understands how the outsized power of big retailers is damaging the entire food system," said Stacy Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
A federal judge in Oregon will first decide whether to grant the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction, then "how much competition is lost to the merger," The Wall Street Journal said. Kroger and Albertsons hoped to close this year.
-
Why are beef prices rising? And how is politics involved?Today's Big Question Drought, tariffs and consumer demand all play a role
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
How is Chili's saving casual dining? Could others follow?Today's Big Question Value and TikTok virality bring in the diners
-
Is Amazon about to take over the grocery business?Today's Big Question Expanded delivery will present a challenge to Walmart and Kroger
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
