The Federal Trade Commission on Monday sued to block a proposed merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, saying the $24.6 billion deal could result in higher prices for millions of American consumers.
The FTC filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oregon, alleging that the deal is anticompetitive and could harm shoppers by boosting prices for groceries and other essential household items. The merger could also result in lower quality products and services, as well as limit shoppers’ options for where to buy groceries, the agency alleged.
The FTC was joined in the suit by eight state attorneys general and the District of Columbia.
I feel like this is a pretty obvious circumstance where these companies should not merge as it would have zero positive impact on consumers. Hoping they can keep the merger from going through. If they can’t block this one the. I kinda feel like they don’t have much authority.
We already saw how little power they have with the MS/Activision merger. Doubt they’ll be able to do anything here either.
I feel like there’s more on the line with groceries being a staple necessary for human existence, so hopefully there’s more motivation to stop this one. Your example stands though and I don’t have a whole lot of faith that this will turn out different.
You’re right that there is more on the line, but that doesn’t mean the morons in power will care.
Here in Aus we’ve had a supermarket duopoly since 1985, it has been terrible for consumers and only gets worse over time, most recently using COVID supply chain disruptions as a guise for increasing sales margin.
The government recently announced a 12-month review into the industry, triggering CEOs to resign and be replaced with scapegoats for their upcoming difficult period.
Things do generally seem to be on the right path, and yet still no one is talking about the only measure which will stop the problem: fixing the merger laws.
From where I’m standing, for the FTC to pre-emptively realise this eventuality and act to intervene represents about a 40-year headstart on us developing sensible policy in the area. And we’ve actually been dealing with the consequences of the inaction for that time.
Comparing to Activision and Microsoft is total non sequitur, they are world apart in terms of their impact on society and tbh, Microsoft’s argument that it can be good for consumers has merit.
