Good riddance to the merger of grocers Albertsons and Kroger, which would have cost you money

By Michael Hiltzik
Source: Los Angeles Times

The inside stories of messy marriage breakups have been an entertainment staple since even before Tolstoy observed that “every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” So let’s thank the supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons, whose $24.6-billion merger has collapsed amid mutual recriminations, for their outstanding contribution to the genre.

The proximate cause of the breakup was the granting of a preliminary injunction against the deal by U.S. Judge Adrienne Nelson of Oregon. Nelson’s ruling, issued Tuesday, was a response to a motion by the Federal Trade Commission, the District of Columbia and eight states including California. (A state judge in Washington also ruled against the merger the same day.)

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