This won’t be good for consumer prices. In SoCal, these are the only two real players. Ralphs, Food4Less, Pavilions, Vons, Albertsons.
They’ll have to sell of a bunch of stores to avoid antitrust.
When Albertsons bought Vons & Pavilions, they had to sell off stores. Question is who fills the void and buys them?
The feds should reject the merger. In most of the US those are only two supermarket chains left.
Should, but won’t. Antitrust action in the U.S. over the last 50 years amounts to a polite throat clearing amid a full-scale riot.
… and Albertsons would control about 13% of the U.S. grocery market … that is a distant second to Walmart’s 22% share. Amazon is also a growing grocery player, with 3% share … Costco controls 6%.
This guy says 19% vs. the previous story’s 13%. WTF?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/03/albertsons-special-dividend-owners/