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☆ Albertsons, Kroger CEOs to defend $25 bln merger to skeptical U.S. senators
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Top executives at Kroger Co (KR.N) and Albertsons Companies Inc (ACI.N) are expected to face tough questions on Tuesday from lawmakers who worry the grocers' planned $25 billion merger will push up food prices at a time when inflation is a concern. Kroger Chief Executive Rodney McMullen and Albertsons' chief, Vivek Sankaran, will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, some of whose members have already criticized the deal. Senators Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate antitrust panel, and Richard Blumenthal were among those who signed a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, saying the merger "raises considerable antitrust concerns." Ideally, they would like to find buyers for the facilities but could also put them into a new company that would be owned by Albertsons' shareholders. The companies may also draw fire on Tuesday for a widely criticized plan to give Albertsons' shareholders a $4 billion dividend payment.

☆ Kroger and Albertsons want to create a grocery empire. The last supermarket mega-merger backfired
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

With the FTC’s blessing, Haggen, a small supermarket chain in the Northwest with just 18 locations, bought 146 of the former Albertsons and Safeway stores, including the one where Martinez worked. In an weird twist, Albertsons bought back dozens of the same stores it previously sold to Haggen in bankruptcy court — at a lower price. Now she worries Kroger will divest Ralphs as part of its merger with Albertsons in a repeat of the Haggen 2015 deal. To address antitrust concerns that the merger will stifle competition in local markets where they overlap, Kroger and Albertsons plan to divest stores. In 2015, Haggen bought a Vons grocery store (owned by Safeway at the time) in Carpinteria as part of the Albertsons and Safeway divestitures.

☆ Kroger, Albertsons CEOs defend grocery tie-up, say deal won't hurt competition
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The battle over whether grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons should be allowed to combine is heating up. "I just don't see less competition going forward," Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said at the hearing by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights. Kroger announced plans in October to acquire Albertsons in a deal valued at $24.6 billion. They emphasized that the proposed deal comes at a time when groceries are taking up more of American families' budgets. Food prices have surged as inflation hovers near four-decade highs.

The hearing was called by Klobuchar along with Senator Mike Lee, the top Republican on an antitrust panel of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The hearing will examine the impact of the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons, the two largest grocery chains in the country," the statement said. The FTC is expected to aggressively review the deal to ensure it complies with antitrust law. While the two are the largest standalone grocers, Walmart is the market leader. Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ What's open and closed on Thanksgiving
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Many stores that were once open on Thanksgiving have changed policy since the pandemic, shuttering for the day before Black Friday sales. Here are the businesses and institutions that will be open and closed on Turkey Day. We’ll again be closed on Thanksgiving,” Walmart (WMT) US CEO John Furner said in an October interview on NBC. Costco (COST), Home Depot (HD), Nordstrom (JWN), Publix, Sam’s Club, Trader Joe’s and others have been closed on Thanksgiving for many years. As for retail pharmacies on Thanksgiving Day, CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid will be open with varying hours.

☆ If the Biden administration doesn't step in to block the $25 billion Kroger-Albertsons merger, it will be devastating for shoppers and grocery-store workers — while the rich shareholders will get rich
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Paul Constant | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Last month, Kroger announced a $25 billion deal to merge with grocery chain Albertsons. During the pandemic last year, local city councils in Long Beach and Seattle passed "hero pay" laws requiring grocery stores to pay their public-facing workers $4 extra per hour. Last month, Kroger announced a $25 billion deal to merge with Albertsons, another major national grocery chain. In the press release announcing the merger, Kroger promised that the consolidation would result in lower prices for customers and better compensation and benefits for workers. But the larger Kroger-Albertsons merger is still on track to conclude in 2024, unless the Biden administration steps in to stop it.

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of Theranos, the failed blood-testing company at the center of her downfall, will be sentenced Friday. Holmes was convicted in January of four counts of fraud for misleading Theranos investors about the company's technology and its financial health. Theranos had simply repurposed commercially available blood analysis technology to run on smaller amounts of blood, The Wall Street Journal revealed in October 2015. During Holmes’ trial, former employees testified that Theranos would also frequently delete erroneous results from its tests to make its machines appear more accurate. Holmes said Balwani lied to her about the company's financial models and subjected her to intimate partner abuse.

☆ Investors will reap billions if Kroger takes over Albertsons. Workers and shoppers may not be as happy.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Gretchen Morgenson | Gretchen Morgenson Is The Senior Financial Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. A Former Stockbroker | She Won The Pulitzer Prize In For Her | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +11 min

Wealthy investors in Safeway’s parent, Albertsons Companies, have done better. And next week, they were slated to reap a $4 billion cash dividend in connection with a proposed $25 billion takeover of Albertsons by rival Kroger. Based on that stake and the amount of the dividend, Cerberus stands to receive roughly $1 billion of the dividend payout. Six of Albertsons’ 14 directors who voted for the dividend are affiliated with the major investors. This is the last, best and final hope for a truly unionized chain.”Nervous about the pensionThe proposed $4 billion cash dividend is large by many measures.

☆ What Cramer is watching Monday — October's stock pop, tech reign over, China's zero Covid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Club holding Wynn Resorts (WYNN) jumps 5% in the premarket after a 4.5% pop Friday. UBS downgrades Caterpillar (CAT) to neutral (hold) from buy; cuts price target by $5-per-share to $230, which is silly. Outback Steakhouse owner Bloomin' Brands (BLMN): two price target boosts, Citi and Barclays. Barclays: LyondellBasell (LYB) downgraded to equal weight from overweight (hold from buy), cut price target to $82 per share from $95. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ DoorDash is making 7 keys moves to dominate retail and grocery delivery after conquering restaurants — and creating new rivals in Instacart and Gopuff
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

In August 2020, DoorDash launched retail delivery with chains like 7-Eleven and Walgreens. Lately, DoorDash has its sights set on a new prize — dominance in retail and grocery delivery. DoorDash has leaned heavily into grocery, convenience-store, and retail delivery since launching these expanded services in 2020. "We have more retail stores, grocery included, than any other platform in North America today." DoorDashDoubleDashA year after launching grocery delivery, DoorDash introduced DoubleDash.

☆ U.S. state attorneys general probing Kroger deal for Albertsons
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A customer leaves an Albertsons grocery store, as Kroger agrees to buy rival Albertsons in a deal to combine the two supermarket chains, in Riverside, California, U.S., October 14, 2022. REUTERS/Aude GuerrucciWASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - A half dozen state attorneys general are digging into Kroger's (KR.N) planned acquisition of rival grocery chain Albertsons (ACI.N), District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine said on Wednesday. read moreRacine, along with attorneys general from Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois and Washington state, also urged the chief executive of Albertsons to delay $4 billion in payments to shareholders until the state merger review is done and the deal closes. Albertsons, which owns Safeway and other grocery chains, said on Oct. 18 it would give shareholders a special dividend of up to $4 billion. An Albertsons spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the special dividend allows the company "to return cash to all of Albertsons Companies’ shareholders," adding that it would continue to be well-capitalized after the dividend is paid.

Four local chapters of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International told Reuters they are assessing their options for lobbying and coordinated action against the deal, including potential strikes. Bryan Doherty, a spokesperson for the UFCW International, told Reuters it plans to request more information from the retailers about possible store closures and layoffs. On Monday afternoon, representatives of UFCW International met with nearly 100 local UFCW chapters on Zoom to discuss the merger and their collective response to it. Workers told Reuters that Kroger has not yet held conversations with the union to discuss the merger. Albertsons reached out to the union, offering to "keep lines of communication open," Mark Federici, president of UFCW local 400, told Reuters.

☆ Grocery deal could have European interloper
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Aimee Donnellan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Good luck to Kroger and Albertsons (ACI.N) – U.S. lawmakers are already getting concerned about a deal. A European interloper could make deal plans even harder. If investors reckoned there was merit in a deal, Muller could also use equity to beef up the offer. So regulators wouldn’t have to worry about a larger Kroger shutting down competing Albertsons stores. Less overlap means fewer operational synergies, so a deal with Ahold might not look as lucrative.

☆ How Yasmin Curtis turned her Chicago restaurant's seafood boil into a frozen product and made $2.6 million in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

During the pandemic, she broadened her customer base by selling her seafood boil in grocery stores. Creating a frozen product from her signature seafood boilTwo Fish sells seafood boil with shrimp and snow-crab legs. Two FishBefore the pandemic, Two Fish Crab Shack had an average wait time of 2 ½ hours to get a table. Two Fish Crab ShackBillboards to reach new demographicsWhen Curtis was first getting her frozen product into stores, she turned to an old-school marketing method: billboards. She's also expanded her frozen seafood boil to include corn and potatoes, which appealed to customers who wanted quick, complete dinners.

☆ I run an 8-figure biscuit business that started as a side gig. Here's how I caught the attention of major distributors like Whole Foods and Costco.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Kimanzi Constable | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ayeshah Abuelhiga, 36, started selling biscuits in 2014 as a side hustle while consulting full time. A customer asked if she would consider selling frozen dough so they could bake the biscuits at home. The day after, I drove a big ice chest filled with frozen biscuits to the stall before work. Two hours later, I got a call from my chef asking whether we had more frozen biscuits at the off-site kitchen because we had sold out. The company turned over eight figures last year, and Target, Publix, Safeway, Costco, and Aldi all stock our frozen biscuits.

The announcement by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee antitrust panel, and Republican Senator Mike Lee confirmed a previous report by Reuters. A Kroger spokesperson said the company looked forward to the hearing. "We welcome the opportunity to outline how this transaction will benefit America’s consumers by expanding access to fresh, affordable food," the company said in a statement. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterSeparately, Klobuchar and fellow Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Cory Booker released a letter expressing concern about the deal. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by David Shepardson and Diane Bartz; Editing by Franklin Paul, Josie Kao and David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ What would a Kroger-Albertsons merger mean for grocery prices?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

A Kroger-Albertsons merger could reshape the grocery industry. The companies say they will divest hundreds of stores in areas where they overlap to win regulatory approval. Albertsons has higher prices than Kroger and other grocers, analysts say, and they predict Kroger will try to reduce Albertsons prices to be more competitive against discount chains like Aldi. Antitrust advocates say the merger would force out competition and concentrate power among the largest chains, driving up prices. A Kroger-Albertsons merger would spark a fresh wave of mergers and acquisitions as companies seek to keep up, analysts predict.

☆ A merger with Albertsons could bring Kroger's tech initiatives, like automated warehouses and smart carts, to over 5,000 locations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Alex Bitter | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Kroger is building its own tech infrastructure, including automated warehouses for delivery orders. Here are Kroger's biggest e-commerce and technology initiatives:A ClusterTruck ghost kitchen inside a Kroger in the Midwest. The delivery-focused ghost kitchen touts a Cheesecake Factory-inspired menu of 80 to 100 food items. Over the last few years, ClusterTruck opened locations inside Kroger stores in Indiana and Ohio. Another partnership, this one with the autonomous-car startup Nuro, has stationed self-driving vehicles to deliver grocery orders in certain cities since 2018.

The spin-out structure would make it easier and faster for Kroger and Albertsons to divest stores if they cannot easily sell them outright, people familiar with the arrangement said. The companies may struggle to find many buyers because Albertsons' stores are unionized, making them less attractive to potential bidders such as private equity firms. Kroger and Albertsons are likely to shed their least profitable stores and keep the best ones to themselves, analysts said. That region contains the most store-overlap between Kroger and Albertsons and is where divestitures are most likely, according to analysts. They intend for the spun-off company to not carry any debt, the sources added.

☆ Premarket stocks: The housing market is a mess, but this isn't 2008
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But within those reports, investors found ominous clues about the future of the housing market, underscoring fears of an upcoming crisis. “We’ve had a time of a red-hot housing market all over the country,” Fed President Jerome Powell told me in September. “For the longer term what we need is supply and demand to get better aligned so that housing prices go up at a reasonable level…and people can afford houses again. “This is the sharpest turn in the housing market since the housing market crash in 2008,” said Redfin’s chief economist, Daryl Fairweather, last month. What’s next: Investors will next look to housing starts data next week as an indicator of where the housing market is headed.

☆ Kroger has to win over Wall Street and Washington on its Albertsons deal – here's how it plans to do that
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In this article ACIKR Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTA customer shops for eggs in a Kroger grocery store on August 15, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty ImagesKroger knows it needs the blessing of investors and federal regulators to pull off its $24.6 billion deal to buy rival grocery company Albertsons . If approved, the grocers would become a more formidable second place in terms of grocery market share behind Walmart . Together, the companies would capture nearly 16% of the U.S. grocery market, according to market researcher Numerator. That's because Wall Street has already seen a spree of grocer acquisitions — including some by Kroger and Albertsons — but no meaningful changes in profit margins.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: JPMorgan Chase, Albertsons, Tesla, Beyond Meat, Delta and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Citigroup — Citigroup rose more than 1% after its third-quarter revenue climbed more than analysts expected, helped by rising interest rates. However, its earnings fell 25% from the year-earlier period as it bulked up its credit loss provisions and investment banking slumped. Wells Fargo — The bank stock was up 3% after Wells Fargo reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts' expectations. US Bancorp - Shares of US Bancorp rose 3.7% after the bank's third-quarter earnings came in above Wall Street analyst expectations. First Republic Bank — The bank stock dropped more than 14% after First Republic posted its third-quarter results.

From a broader national perspective, a combined Kroger and Albertsons does not pose any major threat to the competitive dynamics of the market." Kroger said it expects to reinvest about half a billion dollars of cost savings from deal synergies to reduce prices for customers. "The merger will accelerate our position as a more compelling alternative to larger and non-union competitors," Kroger Chief Executive Officer Rodney McMullen said. Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse were the financial advisors to Albertsons, while Citigroup and Wells Fargo advised Kroger. Kroger will have to pay Albertsons $600 million if the deal is terminated.

☆ U.S. grocer Kroger in talks to merge with rival Albertsons - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 13 (Reuters) - U.S. grocery giant Kroger Co (KR.N) is in talks to merge with smaller rival Albertsons Companies Inc (ACI.N), Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Shares of Albertsons rose 7% on the report, while Kroger's stock slipped. Kroger, which also houses supermarket chains such as Fred Meyer, Ralphs and King Soopers, trails Walmart Inc (WMT.N), the top grocer in the country. A deal could be reached as soon as this week, Bloomberg reported, adding that no final decision has been taken and talks could still be delayed or falter. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Sriraj KalluvilaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Digital World, Domino's, Revlon, Albertsons and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

It was a 52-week low for the stock. Applied Materials – The chip stock turned 4% higher after hitting a 52-week low earlier on disappointing revenue outlook. Otonomy — The biopharmaceutical company shot down 56.1% after the company said a drug for hearing loss showed "no clinically meaningful improvement." Dish Network — The TV and wireless company hit a 52-week low, down 2%. The stock was at a 52-week low during day trading.

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