Albertsons wants Kroger to pay it “billions” for fumbling their merger deal
The grocery stores are fighting. Popcorn on aisle four.
Albertsons filed a lawsuit against Kroger less than 24 hours after a federal judge scrapped their merger plan, accusing it of not doing enough to make sure the $24.6 billion deal went through.
In a decision filed Tuesday, an Oregon federal judge ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission, which argued that the merger between the two largest grocery chains in the country would be anticompetitive and hurt consumers. That ruling means millions of dollars down the drain for the two grocery giants, and Albertsons is now arguing that it’s all Kroger’s fault and it needs to pay up.
Tom Moriarty, Albertsons’ top lawyer, said in a Tuesday statement that it filed a lawsuit in Delaware Court of Chancery seeking “billions of dollars in damages from Kroger to make Albertsons and its shareholders whole.” That includes the $600 million break fee, the hundreds of millions its spent on the deal, “along with the extended period of unnecessary limbo Albertsons endured as a result of Kroger’s actions.”
According to Moriarty, Kroger “acted in its own financial self-interest” in part by not agreeing to divest more of its assets to appease regulators.
As CNBC reported, when one airline raises fees, others tend to follow.
Earlier this month, JetBlue hiked its first-quarter outlook for operating revenue per seat mile to between 5% and 7%, saying that strong Q1 demand helped “partially offset additional expenses realized from operational disruptions and rising fuel costs.” Now, the carrier appears to be making moves to further boost revenue to offset those costs.
Earlier on Monday, JetBlue rival Alaska Air lowered its Q1 profit forecast. The refining margins for the carrier’s cheapest fuel option — sourced from Singapore and representing about 20% of Alaska’s overall supply — have spiked 400% since February.
JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
