Kroger

In 1883, Barney Kroger opened his first store at 66 E. Pearl St. in Cincinnati with $372 of his savings and $350 from B.A. Branagan.⁠[1]

The business originated as the Great Western Tea Company. By 1902 the chain had grown to 40 stores, when it was incorporated as Kroger Grocery and Baking Co. In 1904 it set up its first in-store meat departments.⁠[2]

In 1972, a Kroger store at Kenwood Plaza tested the first electronic checkout, using a bull’s-eye symbol that preceded bar codes.⁠[1]

In 1983, Kroger merged with Dillon Companies Inc. of Kansas, bringing in Dillon’s, King Soopers, Fry’s, City Market and Gerbes.⁠[3]

Kroger’s acquisition of the Fred Meyer chain, completed in 1999, made it the nation’s largest retail grocer.⁠[2]

Kroger merged with Baker’s in 2001, Harris Teeter and Vitacost.com in 2014, Roundy’s in 2015 and Home Chef in 2018, when it also began working with Ocado on e-commerce.⁠[3]

On October 14, 2022, Kroger and Albertsons Companies announced a definitive merger agreement. Albertsons shareholders would receive estimated total consideration of $34.10 per share, implying a total enterprise value of about $24.6 billion, including about $4.7 billion of assumed net debt. Albertsons would also pay a special cash dividend of up to $4 billion.⁠[4]

The combined company would have 4,996 stores and more than 710,000 associates across 48 states and the District of Columbia. A SpinCo of 100 to 375 stores was to be spun off to Albertsons shareholders, and the deal was slated to close in early 2024, pending regulatory approval. Rodney McMullen, then CEO, said the merger “secures union jobs.”⁠[5]

On September 8, 2023, Kroger announced an agreement in principle on nationwide opioid claims, providing up to $1.2 billion to states and subdivisions and $36 million to Native American tribes, paid over 11 years in equal installments. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing or liability.⁠[6]

On February 26, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission, joined by eight states and the District of Columbia, sued to block the merger, arguing it would raise prices and that the plan to sell hundreds of stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers “falls far short of mitigating the lost competition.” Washington and Colorado had already sued.⁠[7]

On December 10, 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson in Oregon granted a preliminary injunction, finding the proposed merger “presumptively unlawful” and the plan to spin off nearly 600 stores “not sufficient in scale to adequately compete.”⁠[8]

The same day, Judge Marshall Ferguson in Seattle issued a permanent injunction barring the merger in Washington, concluding that it would lessen competition and violate the state’s consumer-protection laws. Both judges agreed that C&S Wholesale Grocers was ill-prepared to run the 579 stores it was to buy.⁠[9]

On December 11, 2024, Albertsons terminated the merger agreement and sued Kroger in the Delaware Court of Chancery for willful breach, alleging it failed to use “best efforts” to secure regulatory approval, and claimed a $600 million termination fee and billions of dollars in damages. Kroger called the suit “baseless and without merit.”⁠[10]

On March 3, 2025, Rodney McMullen, CEO since 2014, resigned after an outside counsel review found that his personal conduct, while unrelated to the business, was “inconsistent with Kroger’s Policy on Business Ethics.” Ron Sargent, Kroger’s lead director and a former Staples CEO, became interim CEO.⁠[11]

In 2025, Kroger countersued, alleging that Albertsons “secretly coordinated” with C&S Wholesale Grocers to pursue its own regulatory strategy, and sought unspecified damages for willful breach of the merger agreement. C&S sued Kroger on March 14 for a $125 million termination fee.⁠[12]

On November 18, 2025, Kroger said it would close in January the three automated delivery fulfillment centers it ran with Britain’s Ocado in Wisconsin, Maryland and Florida, and expected an impairment charge of about $2.6 billion in its third quarter. Ocado said it would receive over $250 million in compensation.⁠[13]

As of January 31, 2026, Kroger operated 2,697 supermarkets under local banner names in 35 states and the District of Columbia, 2,250 with pharmacies and 1,731 with fuel centers. It owned 33 food production plants and employed more than 403,000 people. Our Brands represented over $39 billion of sales in 2025.⁠[14]

On February 9, 2026, Kroger appointed Greg Foran chief executive officer. Foran had led Walmart U.S. for six years and later served as CEO of Air New Zealand. Ron Sargent, interim CEO since March 2025, remained chairman and said: “The Board is confident Greg is the right leader to guide Kroger into its next chapter.”⁠[15]

On March 5, 2026, Kroger posted fiscal 2025 sales of $147.6 billion, against $147.1 billion in 2024. Net earnings attributable to Kroger were $1,016 million, or $1.54 per diluted share, down from $2,665 million, or $3.67, and included $2.5 billion of impairment and related charges for its automated fulfillment network.⁠[16]

In October 2026, Albertsons’ case against Kroger went to trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery before Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will. Albertsons demanded at least $8 billion, including the still-unpaid $600 million termination fee. Kroger maintained it owed nothing, arguing that communications between then-COO Susan Morris and C&S were among the reasons Albertsons forfeited the fee.⁠[17]