Eric Fruits on Kroger-Albertsons

Supermarket News – ICLE Senior Scholar Eric Fruits was cited by Supermarket News in an item about a recent podcast he recorded on the proposed merger of supermarkets Kroger and Albertsons. You can read full piece here.

Merger on the mind: Imagine a world where grocery prices remained competitive and job security was locked in after the Kroger, Albertsons merger. That might not be such a stretch, according to Eric Fruits, senior scholar at the International Center for Law and Economics and co-author of the white paper titled, “Food-Retail Competition, Antitrust Law, and the Kroger/Albertsons Merger.” Have 20 minutes? You can catch my interview with Fruits in the latest episode of our SN off the Shelf podcast. In a nutshell, he says the Kroger, Albertsons merger checks all the boxes when you look at other successful mergers in retail history. He also believes the Federal Trade Commission will take both Kroger and Albertsons to court about the deal, and other states could follow suit. Don’t get your hopes up if you were betting on the merger kicking in next year. —Bill Wilson