A customer leaves a Kroger grocery store on September 9 in Houston, Tx.
Image Brandon Bell / Getty
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Image Brandon Bell / Getty
A customer leaves a Kroger grocery store on September 9 in Houston, Tx.
Image Brandon Bell / Getty
Kroger plans to buy Albertsons in a $24.6 billion deal, a merger that would unite the two largest grocery store chains in the US, the companies said Friday.
The deal is likely to attract intense scrutiny from federal regulators and critics as it will form a new supermarket giant at a time of soaring food prices. Grocery prices up 13% in September compared to a year ago.
Kroger is the largest supermarket operator in the US, with 420,000 employees and more than 2,700 stores, including Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer and King Soopers. Albertsons is the country’s second-largest supermarket company, with 290,000 employees and nearly 2,300 stores, including Safeway and Vons.
The two overlaps in multiple markets and their relationship will involve moving up to 375 stores into a separate company. inside Friday announcementKroger said it will “reinvest about half a billion dollars in cost savings from the synergistic price reduction for customers” and invest $1 billion to increase wages and benefits for workers.
For both companies, Walmart is the main competitor, as the retail giant is the top grocery seller in the US, along with Amazon and smaller stores. Albertsons merged with rival Safeway in 2015, then tried to merge with drugstore chain Rite Aid failed in 2018 and finally to the community in 2020.
Antitrust regulators in the Biden administration pushed back against megadeals, citing the overwhelming impact on competition and consumer prices.
