{"id":2273300,"date":"2024-06-21T08:35:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T12:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/critics-claim-disconnect-with-grocery-market-in-lawsuits-against-supermarket-merger\/"},"modified":"2024-06-21T08:40:27","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T12:40:27","slug":"critics-claim-disconnect-with-grocery-market-in-lawsuits-against-supermarket-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/critics-claim-disconnect-with-grocery-market-in-lawsuits-against-supermarket-merger\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics allege &#8216;disconnect&#8217; in grocery market in lawsuits challenging supermarket merger"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcritics-claim-disconnect-with-grocery-market-in-lawsuits-against-supermarket-merger%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2273300&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The summary discusses ongoing lawsuits by the state of Washington and the Federal Trade chapter \u2064against the proposed Kroger and \u200cAlbertsons merger, with various <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginia-elections-a-critical-test-for-both-parties-ahead-of-2024\/\" title=\"Virginia Elections: Crucial Test for Parties before 2024.\">parties expressing<\/a> their views.\u200c Advocates for the\u2063 merger, including Scott Moses from Solomon Partners who advised Albertsons, \u200cargue that\u200c the merger is crucial in adapting to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/some-analysts-see-6-average-gas-prices-by-august\/\" title=\"Some Analysts See  Average Gas Prices by August\">significant market<\/a> changes since the 1980s, highlighting that supermarkets now represent a much smaller portion of the market \u200dcompared to their dominance previously. Moses \u2062suggests that the merger is \u200ba response to a more diverse and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/states-push-to-rein-in-big-tech-as-federal-gears-grind-slow\/\" title=\"States Push to Rein in Big Tech as Federal Gears Grind Slow\">competitive landscape<\/a> than \u200cwhat existing complaints \u2062and the\u200c FTC&#8217;s perspective suggest, referencing the outdated view of the 1980s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-year-of-living-fearfully\/\" title=\"The Year of Living Fearfully\">grocery<\/a> market.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square)\u00a0\u2013 As <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_2f29e618-d4fc-11ee-a1f0-e30264e7a756.html\">lawsuits<\/a><\/strong> filed by the state of Washington and the Federal Trade Commission proceed against a proposed <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_45407c2e-8fbe-11ee-b641-13ae1087ce08.html\">merger<\/a><\/strong> of Kroger and Albertsons, advocates for the transaction continue to stress its necessity in a changing world for grocers.<\/p>\n<p>Scott Moses is the head Of Grocery, Pharmacy &#038; Restaurants for the\u00a0financial advisory firm Solomon Partners; he advised Albertsons on the proposed merger with Kroger. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bill-gates-wins-legal-approval-for-13-5-million-north-dakota-farmland-purchase\/\" title=\"Bill Gates Wins Legal Approval for .5 Million North Dakota Farmland Purchase\">recent media interview<\/a>, he argued that the merger reflects the changes that have occurred in the market, particularly since the 1980s when supermarkets composed 80% of grocers compared to around 30% now.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2000s, supermarkets made up 10 of the top 15 grocers in the nation, compared to just five today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat time has long since passed, and that\u2019s the disconnect with this transaction,\u201d Moses said, adding that the industry is \u201cfar more diverse and competitive than 1980s grocery market described by the FTC and some of these other complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether it\u2019s various attorney generals [sic] or other politicians or other constituents, a lot of what has been said about Kroger, about this transaction, about C&#038;S is just demonstrably false,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Kroger owns Quality Food Center and Fred Meyer, while Albertsons owns Safeway and Haggen. One of the arguments made in favor of the merger is that it\u2019s necessary for supermarkets like Albertsons and Kroger to compete with the rise of national discount chains, along with online shopping through Walmart, Target, Costco and Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey borrow cheaper than most countries,\u201d Moses said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a similar challenge faced by brick-and-mortar department stores, whose fate Moses said they want to avoid.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve been marginalized by the same forces,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all seen [that] over the last 20-30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the FTC claims in its lawsuit that the merger would constitute a monopoly, Moses said that even if the merger were to occur, the combined supermarkets would still rank eighth in terms of total annual retail and wholesale grocer sales, at $43 billion compared to top ranking Walmart\u2019s $321 billion. Additionally, the merger would have\u00a0Kroger selling 104 Washington-based stores to C&#038;S Wholesale Grocers. <\/p>\n<p>However, the Washington Attorney General\u2019s Office <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/agportal-s3bucket.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/uploadedfiles\/Another\/News\/Press_Releases\/0093_Complaint_AmendRedactions_WA_021224%20%28002%29.pdf?VersionId=m0mkgZNbOms.m8h.qwHNHJVdEmXIVFR8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argued<\/a><\/strong> in its January lawsuit in King County Superior Court that the store sale \u201cis woefully inadequate to restore the competition lost through the Proposed Transaction,\u201d asserting that C&#038;S \u201cis not a sufficiently established and sophisticated competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWashington consumers and workers should not be forced to take a gamble on another risky supermarket divestiture,\u201d the lawsuit states further.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 Amid ongoing lawsuits from Washington state and the FTC against the Kroger-Albertsons merger, proponents emphasize its importance for adapting to the evolving grocery sector. Scott Moses, head of Grocery, Pharmacy &amp; Restaurants at financial advisory firm Solomon, advocates for the deal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2273301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24023711063510-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2273300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24023711063510-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2273300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2273301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2273300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2273300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2273300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}