This story is republished from dermotcole.com with permission.
Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming joined the Federal Trade Commission’s federal lawsuit against the proposed Kroger acquisition of Albertsons, the company that owns Safeway and other brands.
Washington and Colorado have filed their own lawsuits.
Alaska Attorney General Tregarrick Taylor, who joins every lawsuit that aligns with his right-wing personal views, did not join this one. No surprise there.
The only Republican AG to join the lawsuit is from Wyoming.
Kroger, which owns the Fred Meyer chain, continues to claim that the $24.6 billion deal would lead to lower prices.
Kroger said its plan would lead to the sale of 14 Alaska stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a company that has no operations in Alaska. C&S only has 23 supermarkets nationwide.
It’s unlikely that any of the 14 Alaska stores would stay in business long.
The Federal Trade Commission said the nationwide 413-store divestiture plan is a “hodgepodge of unconnected stores, banners, brands, and other assets that Kroger’s antitrust lawyers have cobbled together and falls far short of mitigating the lost competition between Kroger and Albertsons.”
There is competition in Alaska today among Fred Meyer, Safeway, Costco and Walmart, as well as a number of smaller companies. There would be less competition with Safeway out of the picture.
“The proposal completely ignores many affected regional and local markets where Kroger and Albertsons compete today. In areas where there are divestitures, the proposal fails to include all of the assets, resources, and capabilities that C&S would need to replicate the competitive intensity that exists today between Kroger and Albertsons,” the FTC press release said.
Kroger has said it may have to sell 237 more stores to get regulatory approval, but there has been no information on whether any of those would be in Alaska.
“Kroger’s acquisition of Albertsons would lead to additional grocery price hikes for everyday goods, further exacerbating the financial strain consumers across the country face today,” said Henry Liu, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition in a press release. “Essential grocery store workers would also suffer under this deal, facing the threat of their wages dwindling, benefits diminishing, and their working conditions deteriorating.”
Dermot Cole has worked as a newspaper reporter, columnist and author in Alaska for more than 40 years. Support his work here.