The Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Justice Department’s request for information on whether and how to update the antitrust agencies’ merger-enforcement guidelines is based on several faulty premises and appears to presuppose a preferred outcome: stronger (rather than optimal) merger...

In October 2022, Kroger and Albertsons announced their intent to merge the two companies in a deal valued at $24.6 billion. The combined company would be the third largest food and grocery retailer, behind Walmart and Amazon. Based on the Federal Trade Commission’s recently release draft...