Acme in Malvern could be looking at some changes if the government does not manage to prevent the Kroger-Albertsons merger, one of the biggest supermarket mergers in the nation’s history, writes Conner Barkon for KYW Newsradio.
The Federal Trade Commission is attempting to block the proposed merger of grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons, Acme’s parent company, worth $24.6 billion. According to the FTC, this merger would reduce competition, which would lead to higher prices and lower quality, as well as diminished wages and benefits for workers.
However, Subodha Kumar, a researcher and professor with Temple University’s Fox School of Business, believes that the lawsuit filed by the government is blowing the proposed merger out of proportion.
“I think that some of the issues raised by the FTC might be an overstatement and not looking at all the aspects even though some of the points are valid,” he said. “I don’t think they can just arbitrarily increase prices just because they merged.”
He believes that Walmart, which would still be bigger than the merged company, Amazon, and others would prevent the new company from raising prices on its groceries.
Read more about the issues with the Kroger-Albertsons merger at KYW Newsradio.
______
