Jake and Spike: Bob Ferguson got the merger wrong as Albertsons closures grow

Albertsons announced it is closing additional stores and laying off employees across the nation after its $24.6 billion merger with Kroger fell through.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stopped the merger from proceeding in late 2024, alongside a coalition of nine state attorneys general and the state of Washington.

“For us, [the neighborhood grocer] is Albertsons, but guess what folks? Not for long,” KIRO host Jake Skorheim said. “They’re going away. Albertsons is going away.”

Albertsons closed approximately 20 stores in 2025, with more to close this year.

Federal, state judges block merger between Kroger and Albertsons

In 2022, Kroger and Albertsons proposed what would have been the largest grocery store merger in U.S. history. But the Federal Trade Commission sued earlier this year, asking Nelson to block the $24.6 billion deal until an in-house administrative judge at the FTC could consider the merger’s implications. Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia joined the FTC’s lawsuit.

Then Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, now the governor of the state, was one of the most vocal opponents of the merger. He first filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state in January 2024.

“If Kroger and Albertson’s merge, they will – simply put – dwarf the competition,” Ferguson said at the time. “Shoppers will have fewer choices and less competition, and that results in higher prices.”

Kroger argued that they can’t be competitive and afford to stay open unless they get this merger through.

“I didn’t really believe the chains when they said, if we don’t merge, we’ll fold,” KIRO host Spike O’Neill said. “The argument against letting them merge was that it would eliminate competition.”

“Bob Ferguson, whose track record of knowing business is so poor, just seems to me to be a guy now who has a track record of making decisions politically that are bad for business,” Jake said. “They’re good for him politically, and it benefits him, but they’re bad for business.”

“I’m with you,” Spike agreed. “He has not been business-friendly, either as an AG or as a governor.”

Of the known Albertsons closures announced so far, two stores in Escondido and Redlands (both in California) will close in April, eliminating 135 jobs, while an Albertsons store near Riverside, California, shut down in March, cutting 75 workers, according to FOX Business. A Safeway in Northern California closed earlier this year, affecting 76 employees. Two Albertsons-owned stores in North Texas are set to close by late April, affecting 138 workers, and a Safeway in Washington, D.C., is slated to close next month, eliminating 87 positions.

Kroger, meanwhile, has been working to close 60 stores nationwide since last summer.

“Ferguson said that it would create a near monopoly in Washington,” Jake said. “He said, if this merger goes through, it will lead to higher prices and reduce choices for consumers. He also said the merger would eliminate the competition between the brands, impacting employee leverage and shopper options. Now I would like you just to think about for a second what has happened in the wake of the merger not going through. All of the things that he predicted would happen if it did go through, ended up happening.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.