Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants a federal court to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission that would block a planned merger between Cincinnati-based Kroger and Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons.
Yost and three other attorneys general filed an amicus curiae brief in U.S. District Court in Oregon on Wednesday, wanting the merger to go ahead and saying the FTC’s opposition is based “on a poor understanding of the market in which the two retailers operate.”
LISTEN: The government blocked the Kroger-Albertsons merger. What does that mean for the Tri-State region?
According to the FTC, the proposed $24.6 billion deal would eliminate competition between the two chains and lead to higher prices.
In a statement, Yost writes: “The FTC’s tunnel vision in this case risks weakening the very competition it is trying to protect. A comprehensive look at the competitive landscape shows no reason to delay this deal any further.”
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Yost is joined in his brief as amicus curiae by the attorneys general of Alabama, Georgia and Iowa.
The FTC, eight states – Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming – and the District of Columbia filed suit in February to stop the proposed merger. Attorneys general in Colorado and Washington had filed their own lawsuits.
The retailers announced the merger plan in October 2022. It would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history. Ohio-based Kroger is the largest U.S. supermarket operator with more than 2,700 stores; its stores include Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer and King Soopers. Idaho-based Albertsons is the second-largest chain with nearly 2,300 stores, including Safeway and Vons.
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The two companies employ more than 710,000 people in nearly 5,000 stores and various facilities. While Kroger and Albertsons are the largest grocery chains, Walmart has the largest share of the grocery market.
