The proposed merger between supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons floundered on Tuesday after judges overseeing two separate cases both halted the merger.
U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson issued a preliminary injunction blocking the merger Tuesday after holding a three-week hearing in Portland, Oregon.
Later Tuesday, Judge Marshall Ferguson in Seattle issued a permanent injunction barring the merger in Washington after concluding that it would lessen competition in the state.
Kroger and Albertsons in 2022 proposed what would be the largest grocery store merger in U.S. history. But the Federal Trade Commission sued earlier this year, asking Nelson to block the $24.6 billion deal until an in-house administrative judge at the FTC could consider the merger’s implications.
Nelson agreed to pause the merger.
This is ridiculous, we need more competition in the grocery business, not less. The idea that one grocery giant could spend billions buying another grocery giant would be laughable if it didn’t have such grim implications. Welcome to the latter days of capitalism.