Portland Judge Temporarily Blocks Kroger, Albertsons Merger

A Portland, OR Federal Judge Tuesday temporarily blocked the proposed merger of two grocery giants.

   The Judge blocks the merger of Kroger, Albertsons

Judge Adrienne Nelson had presided over a three-week hearing, with testimony from both sides being presented.

Kroger and Albertsons said the move was necessary to help them become more competitive with other retailers such as Costco, Walmart, and Amazon.

Opponents said it would remove grocery store choices and hurt jobs, but the deal did not include any store closures. Kroger had added to the plan selling off several hundred stores and had owners lined up.

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According to MyNorthwest.com:

"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."

Kroger operates 117 stores in WA under various brand names, Albertsons has 16 and Safeway has 185 (Safeway had merged with Albertsons a few years ago).