Kroger, Albertsons execs defend merger plan in Portland trial

Published: Sep 06, 2024 Duration: 00:04:03 Category: News & Politics

Tags : news money business local Bloomberg the-story kroger albertsons merger albertsons kroger merger kroger merger with albertsons Federal Trade Commission c&s wholesale grocers

Trending searches: kroger albertsons merger

Week two of the Big Grocery merger trial in downtown Portland wrapped up a bit early today, an unexpected witness from Walmart, an expected witness was not available until Monday. So they shut the thing down before noon on this Friday. Earlier this week, the CEO S of Kroger and Albertson's testified, Kroger owns Fred Meyer Albertson's own safeway and Kroger wants to buy Albertson's for $24.6 billion saying it will help them compete against other giants like Walmart, Amazon Costco, the Federal trade Commission sued to stop the merger arguing the deal would cut competition between Kroger and Albertson's and bring higher grocery prices to consumers. Bloomberg's antitrust reporter, Leah Nilan has been in the courtroom every day of the trial and is helping us out today. She gave us the highlights from the end of the week too. We heard from the Chief marketing Officer of Kroger whose name is Stuart Aiken and he talked about um, some of the price investments or price cuts that they intend to make uh if the merger goes forward. So he said on day one, they uh intended to slash prices on 28 of the most commonly bought items, um, at Albertsons stores. And then within six months, they're hoping to have been able to, uh, reduce prices or cut them on, um, something like 650 of the most commonly bought items. So they have this, this sort of plan they, uh, for how they intend to roll it out, um, in lowering prices. And that's a big one of their selling points to the judge is that, you know, this um, merger will give us a scale that will be, uh, allow us to lower prices. Um And then probably like one of the most consequential um, witnesses who's testified so far was uh, Susan Morris, she is currently the um, chief operating officer of Albertson's. But um, she has been selected to be the new CEO and president of retail at CNS if the merger goes through. So she would essentially be leading this new company that would be created if uh the merger does happen CNS. By the way, is the wholesaler based in New Hampshire that is set to buy 579 stores across the country as part of this whole deal. Most of those stores are owned by Albertsons. 62 are in Oregon, 100 and 24 in Washington. Susan Morris testified that when she first learned about the merger, she wasn't all that happy about it, mostly because she'd spent decades with Albertson's and was disappointed they'd be sold to one of their biggest competitors. She said that now over time, she has sort of come around um because in part, because she's going to be leading this um new company at CNS, which she says uh the 600 stores is in her view a little bit of a sweet spot because they'll be small enough to be agile. Um But still large enough because they are connected to CNS, the wholesaler to have um some good buying power. Um The FTC uh did try and um poke a couple holes in her testimony. They pointed out that if the merger goes through, she is going to earn $50 million. So, you know, she does have a little bit of an incentive to say these things. Um And that, uh you know, she had made a big point about how, um, you know, she has been involved in a number of mergers that Albertson's has gone through over the years, including the 2015 Safeway One and the FTC pointed out that while uh the 2015 Safeway deal may have been good for Albertsons, it wasn't good for all of the stores that were divested. Why? Well, because many of those divested stores have since closed, be sure to check out Leah's fantastic reporting on this case. Just head over to bloomberg.com. You can find her stories. There's just one week left in this trial. Now, next week we're expecting to hear from other retailers, the Kroger and Albertson they are their main competition. Amazon Walmart Target. Shortly after that, we'll have closing arguments. Best guess is those get underway as early as Wednesday. But it depends on the length of the testimony early in the week. So keep it right here. We have one more story for you when we come back.

Share your thoughts

Related Transcripts

Breaking down Portland's Fred Meyer strike and opposition to the Kroger-Albertsons merger

Category: News & Politics

Now, let's pivot and talk about grocery stores. the fred meyer strike along with the federal lawsuit trying to block a huge merger involving fred meyer's owner kroger and albertson's which also own safeway stores. those two things are putting a blinding spotlight on the industry. now, you may have seen... Read more

Protesters speak outside Kroger and Albertsons merger in federal court

Category: News & Politics

Two of the largest grocery store chains, kroger and albertson's are looking to merge. they were in court monday defending the plan against the federal trade commission or ftc that's looking to block it. the ftc filed a lawsuit against the merger in oregon back in february this day has been a long time... Read more

Costco membership price increase goes into effect

Category: News & Politics

Starting today, costco is raising its annual membership fees for the first time in seven years, customers will see a 5 to $10 increase depending on your plan and the change applies to current memberships and renewals. the popular wholesale chain also recently began cracking down on card sharing all... Read more

Nvidia: 3 reasons why Q2 beat did not impress investors

Category: News & Politics

Our top story today nvidia reported its sixth consecutive earnings beat after the closing bell on wednesday and that's thanks to ongoing demand for its ai chips shares however are fallen as alicia keys would say down by about 3% after the chip maker said it expects third quarter revenue to come in around... Read more

Is Milei’s Radical Plan to Save Argentina Working?

Category: News & Politics

Introduction this is javier milei. he was elected president of argentina in a radical political gamble. and the aftershock is now in full swing. melei took office in december 2023 and believes his aggressive and controversial austerity measures are key to lifting argentina out of a decades long cycle... Read more

Retirement: How millennials and Gen Z can catch up on savings

Category: News & Politics

[music] how much should you have saved for retirement well that's the question we're going to answer on today's episode of decoding retirement hi i'm bob powell and today we'll be talking with ann lester who is author of your best financial life ann welcome thanks for having me oh it's a pleasure so... Read more

NFL kicks off tonight on NBC

Category: News & Politics

>>> welcome back. the nfl season kicks off tonight on nbc and peacock at 7:00 p.m. eastern with the defending champ kansas city chiefs hosting the baltimore ravens. the nfl itself is coming off a strong season with the highest viewership in eight years. mike tirico is host and play-by-play announcer... Read more

Brian Niccol takes the helm at Starbucks

Category: News & Politics

Aids and cpap devices. >>> meantime star buck shares are up 18% a since they announced brian niccol as the new ceo. kate rogers is here with many of the uphill battles or sharp battles he's niccol is staring issues. it will have a competitive edge, which is something that chipotle executed well... Read more

Colorado landlord of gang-controlled complex advised to sue over forced sale #shorts

Category: News & Politics

A landlord in aurora colorado has reported been forced to sell his apartment complex after he was taken over by the venezuelan gang trend araga mitchell shell is with me this morning okay you you're saying that the landlord should sue the department of homeland security but i got to point out the landlord... Read more

UK Latest Starmer Says October Budget Is Going to Be Painful #shorts

Category: News & Politics

Going to have to take tough decisions i did not cater for a 22 billion p black hole and that's because it wasn't on the ob's books we were looking at the available as as you were the available material but it wasn't there the obr didn't know about it that's why they're conducting a review as to find... Read more

Affirm CFO discusses the rise of Buy Now Pay Later in 'uncertain times'

Category: News & Politics

Intro well more than half of americans believe the us is currently in a recession according to a harris poll and that's despite the fact that we're actually not in a recession and to help alleviate the pressure of inflation and higher cost of living more people are turning to buy now pay later services... Read more

Expect negative revisions from Tesla, says Barclays' Dan Levy

Category: News & Politics

The world on running your business, do you really want to not treat him properly? >> well, there may be even bigger problems for tesla, as it reports cooling sales and the overall ev market is slowing down or showing signs of it. while annual sales continue to grow, the growth rate is dipping,... Read more