Kroger Doomed Albertsons Merger, Former CEO Testifies

By James Calloway

Former Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran testified that Kroger doomed the companies' blocked merger because it was not willing to part with enough stores. His statement came as a trial opened over which grocer is to blame for the deal's failure.

The testimony puts a name and a claim at the center of a dispute that now sits in court. Sankaran, who led Albertsons during the merger push, said the grocers lost credibility with regulators because Kroger's store divestiture plan was too weak.

What does the testimony claim?

Sankaran's account is direct. Kroger, the larger of the two chains, would not commit to shedding a sufficient number of stores to satisfy antitrust reviewers. That reluctance, he testified, is what sank the transaction.

The claim matters because the divestiture package was the grocers' central fix for competition concerns. If the package looked thin, regulators had reason to doubt the deal could clear. Sankaran said exactly that: the companies lost credibility with regulators over the size of the offer.

Why is the blame question in court?

The trial now underway is not about whether the merger should proceed. It is about responsibility for the collapse. The two companies are fighting over which side caused the deal to fail, and money is likely at stake in that answer.

Sankaran's testimony anchors Albertsons' side of that argument. By pointing at Kroger's unwillingness to divest more stores, he places the burden on the acquiring company. His role as former CEO gives the claim weight: he sat inside the negotiations and is speaking on the record.

What does this mean for the grocers?

The dispute leaves both chains in a costly post-merger posture. The deal is dead. What remains is the accounting — and a court's determination of who pays for its death.

For Kroger, the testimony frames its divestiture strategy as the fatal flaw. For Albertsons, it supports the position that its partner's choices, not the deal itself, invited regulatory rejection.

Sankaran's appearance is the opening salvo in the trial. His claim — that a weak store divestiture plan destroyed the grocers' credibility with regulators — will now be tested against Kroger's response as proceedings continue.