WVXU: How Kroger’s purchase of Albertson Co. could impact consumers

UC Law professor offers thoughts and antitrust law expertise

Felix Chang, professor and co-director of the Corporate Law Center at the UC Law, discusses the potential impact of a merger between Kroger Co. and Albertson Co. during a segment with WVXU’s Cincinnati Edition. Kroger is the second larger grocery retailer in the nation while Alberston’s is the fourth largest. 

Their merger is set for completion by January 2024, but the deal still faces regulatory scrutiny and legal challenges regarding potential antitrust issues. The two companies owned nearly 5,000 grocery stores combined across the nation. The impact could be substantial for consumers. 

“What you worry about when you have a merger of this size is two fold,” Chang told WVXU listeners. “One is that you have a market that has one less significant competitor and so got few competitors and they is a greater propensity for some kind of anti-competitive conduct in violation of the Sherman Act. You also worry about a successor who has greater market power and can unilaterally raise prices.”

Listen to the WVXU interview online.

Learn more about Felix Chang, professor of law at the University of Cincinnati

Featured top image: Kroger grocery closest to the UC campus. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand.

Related Stories

3065 Results
10

Cleveland.com: Men imprisoned since 2006 get new trial after Cleveland police officers contradict fellow officers’ testimony

March 22, 2021

An appeals court granted a new trial for two men who spent the last 14 years in prison for the shooting of two people and the attempted shooting of a Cleveland police officer. The unanimous decision issued by the 8th District Court of Appeals found that Cleveland police and Cuyahoga County prosecutors denied Kenny Phillips and Michael Sutton a fair trial by failing to tell the men’s defense attorneys that officers gave conflicting statements about the shootings, and not calling them testify at trial. The Ohio Innocence Project represents Sutton. Mark Godsey, director of the Cincinnati-based Ohio Innocence Project, said that attorneys for the men would ask the courts to release the men on bond immediately pending their new trial.