FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 20, 2023

CONTACT
Carter Dougherty
carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org
(202) 251-6700

Albertsons to Pay $3.7 Billion Massive Dividend to Shareholders
Payment Enriches the 1% at the Expense of Workers and Communities Nationwide

Washington, D.C. – The $3.7 billion dividend payout by Albertsons Companies at the behest of a consortium led by private equity firm Cerberus will enrich people who are already extremely wealthy at the expense of communities and workers nationwide.

“Albertsons has orchestrated a huge giveaway to Wall Street through this unprecedented $4 billion payment,” said Aliya Sabharwal, private equity campaign manager at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, Albertsons most influential shareholder, is behind a cash grab that is happening at the expense of workers and communities.”

The payment follows months of legal challenges to block this looting of Albertsons. As AFR has documented, the payment will accrue mainly to the benefit of Cerberus, which de facto controls Albertsons via a group of shareholders and board seats, and which has already extracted hundreds of millions of dollars from Albertsons.

On Jan. 17, the Washington state supreme court declined to review Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson’s legal argument against the payment, which is part of a planned acquisition by Kroger that antitrust regulators must still review

“We stand with the UFCW and Teamsters locals representing over 100,000 Kroger and Albertsons workers affected by the deal and join calls to the Federal Trade Commission to block this mega-merger,” said Sabharwal. “If approved, this acquisition will likely lead to store closures, food deserts, increased consumer prices, and the destruction of thousands of unionized grocery jobs. The private equity track record is there for all to see.”

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