Whole Foods settles
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
High-end grocery store chain Whole Foods Market will sell 32 of the stores it acquired when it bough its former competitor Wild Oats in 2007 and will divest related assets, according to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The 1agreement resolves allegations the chain's acquisition of Wild Oats stores was anticompetitive, FTC announces March 6 (2"The Tan Sheet" Feb. 2, 2009, In Brief)
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FTC approves Whole Foods order
Whole Foods Market will divest 13 operating and 19 closed locations as part of a final consent order issued May 28 by the Federal Trade Commission. The Austin, Texas-based premium grocery chain settled with the agency after FTC pursued an antitrust case against the firm's 2007 acquisition of competitor Wild Oats (1"The Tan Sheet" March 9, 2009, In Brief). The final order, which the four commissioners unanimously approved, says an appointed divestiture trustee will have six months to complete the divestiture
Competition director departs FTC
Ken Glazer will leave his role as senior deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition this month, FTC says. Glazer helped oversee the case against the Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger, which was settled in March (1"The Tan Sheet" March 9, 2009, In Brief). He also worked on FTC's pharmaceutical pay-for-delay settlement program, the agency noted May 6. FTC's attempts to block agreements between drug firms to delay introduction of generics stalled in the courts (2"The Tan Sheet" April 20, 2009, p. 6)
Whole Foods offers settlement to FTC
The supermarket chain has proposed a consent agreement to the Federal Trade Commission to settle the antitrust case against Whole Foods' 2007 acquisition of Wild Oats Markets. FTC reports Jan. 29 that it is withdrawing the matter from adjudication to consider the proposed settlement until Feb. 5, when the agency will announce whether it will proceed with an administrative trial scheduled for April 6. FTC and Whole Foods declined to disclose details of the non-public settlement offer. On Jan. 15, Whole Foods re-filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit charging that FTC's administrative trial deprives the Austin, Texas-based company of its due process and equal protection rights (1"The Tan Sheet" Dec. 15, 2008, In Brief)