FILE - Vivek Sankaran CEO at Albertsons Companies, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights hearing on the proposed Kroger-Albertsons grocery store merger in Washington, Nov. 29, 2022. were set to testify in federal court Wednesday, midway through a three-week hearing in which the grocery chains have defended their proposed merger from the U.S. government's attempt to stop it.in U.S. history in October 2022.
During the proceedings, FTC attorneys have noted that Kroger and Albertsons currently compete in 22 states, closely matching each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. Shoppers benefit from that competition and would lose those benefits if the merger is allowed to proceed, they argued.
Albertsons has argued the deal could actually bolster union jobs, since many of it and Kroger’s competitors, like Walmart, have few unionized workers.on competition policy, antitrust and consumer rights, the Albertsons CEO said his company’s acquisition of brands such as Safeway over the previous decade had allowed it to increase the number of its stores from 192 to 2,300.The FTC alleges that C&S is ill-prepared to take on those stores.