Kroger, Owner of Ralphs and Food 4 Less, and Albertsons, Owner of Vons, Announce “Definitive” Merger Agreement

Kroger and Albertsons Companies, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which the companies will merge their iconic brands and roots in local communities to establish a national footprint.

Kroger is the largest supermarket operator in the U.S., with 420,000 employees and more than 2,700 stores nationwide. Albertsons is the country’s second-largest supermarket company, with 290,000 employees and almost 2,300 stores, including Safeway and Vons.

Kroger operates one Food 4 Less and three Ralphs markets in Pasadena. Albertsons operates 2 Vons stores in Pasadena.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of each company, Kroger will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Albertsons Companies, Inc for $24.6 billion.

Kroger said it would “reinvest approximately half a billion dollars of cost savings from synergies to reduce prices for customers” and invest $1 billion to raise wages and benefits for workers, in a press release.

The effects of the merger on Pasadena stores were not immediately known.