Mergers

UFCW Locals Block Kroger-Albertsons Mega-Merger

December 18, 2024 Lisa Xu, Labor Notes. Organize! Albertsons, Grocery Workers, Krogers, Mergers, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In a victory for labor—and in particular, for a coalition of United Food and Commercial Workers local unions—judges in Oregon and Washington state have separately ruled against the proposed mega-merger of Kroger and Albertsons, effectively blocking it and leading Albertsons to terminate the merger agreement. On December 10, a federal district court in Oregon upheld a preliminary injunction on the merger requested by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). On the same day, a court in Washington also ruled against the merger in a separate suit brought by the state’s attorney general.

Workers Would Pay The Price For This Mega Grocery Merger

March 14, 2024 Ann Larson, In These Times. Strategize! Albertsons, Grocery Stores, Krogers, Mergers, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

As a former grocery store cashier, the recent news that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing to block a merger between supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons prompted a sigh of relief. My experience cashiering and bagging taught me just how it is critical to stop further concentration in the industry when just five companies already control over 60% of U.S. grocery sales. First proposed in 2022, the $24.6 billion deal would be the largest supermarket merger in history and would create the second largest grocery company in the United States (after Walmart).

How Private Equity Conquered America

March 2, 2024 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. Resistance Report Finance and the Economy, Mergers, Private, Private Equity

Private equity firms are buying up the US economy and stripping it for parts. From healthcare to education, utilities, and more, massive firms like Blackstone and the Carlyle Group have acquired vast holdings across critical industries essential to the health and well-being of everyday people. Instead of seeking to make these ventures more profitable, private equity firms are more likely to orchestrate to bleed their assets for short-term gains—even if those assets are universities, hospitals, or nursing homes. Gretchen Morgenson, author of These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs—and Wrecks—America, returns to The Chris Hedges Report.

How New Federal Antimerger Guidelines Can Restore Competition

July 10, 2022 Stacy Mitchell and Ron Knox, Institute For Local Self-Reliance. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Legal System, Mergers, Monopolies

When the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice announced plans to revise their merger guidelines earlier this year, it marked a dramatic shift from business as usual. Their announcements set the stage for a new era in antitrust regulation where mergers are not seen as inherent benefits to the market to be encouraged but rather as inherent threats of which to be skeptical. In “Rolling Back Corporate Concentration: How New Federal Antimerger Guidelines Can Restore Competition and Build Local Power,” the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) provides context illuminating why the departments’ new stance on merger activity is both enormously consequential for today’s economy and also entirely consistent with what Congress intended when creating antimerger law in the mid-20th century.

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