Kroger, Albertsons to Sell 166 More Grocery Stores to Appease FTC, Get Merger Approved

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is challenging Kroger's acquisition of Albertsons and Kroger, and now nan 2 stores person offered up different discuss to curb concerns astir nan merger's approval.

Now, nan 2 market shop chains person agreed to waste an further 166 stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers (which owns 24 Piggly Wiggly and Grand Union supermarkets) successful a divestiture woody group to beryllium worthy an estimated $2.9 billion. The full number of stores sold to nan retailer is now 579.

The further market stores sold to C&S will guarantee that nary storefronts close, nary labor suffer their jobs, and nary worker benefits alteration upon nan merger's completion, Kroger's CEO Rodney McMullen said successful a company release.

Related: FTC Sues to Block $25 Billion Grocery Merger Between Kroger, Albertsons

"Our projected merger pinch Albertsons will bring little prices and much choices to much customers and unafraid nan semipermanent early of unionized market jobs," he said.

The merger, which was announced successful 2022 and worthy an estimated $25 billion, is nether scrutiny by nan FTC. The agency claims that nan caller mixed concatenation would limit title and person disastrous implications for employees, customers, and nutrient providers astatine large, from unfair prices to little worker wages and beyond.

The FTC primitively sued to artifact nan merger successful February and was joined by 8 states and Washington, D.C.

"This supermarket mega-merger comes arsenic American consumers person seen nan costs of groceries emergence steadily complete nan past fewer years. Kroger's acquisition of Albertsons would lead to further market value hikes for mundane goods, further exacerbating nan financial strain consumers crossed nan state look today," said Henry Liu, head of nan FTC's Bureau of Competition, earlier this year. "Essential market shop workers would besides suffer nether this deal, facing nan threat of their wages dwindling, benefits diminishing, and their moving conditions deteriorating."

Related: Mark Cuban Shares His Hack for How to Get Cheaper Groceries

Additionally, Kroger has now agreed to waste nan Haggen sanction to C&S, while C&S will run nan Albertsons sanction successful California and Wyoming and nan Safeway sanction successful Arizona and Colorado.

The FTC has not yet commented connected whether aliases not nan revised divestiture woody would impact its determination to let nan merger to proceed.