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Albertsons seeks more than $9 billion from Kroger after $24.6 billion merger collapses

Albertsons is seeking more than $9 billion from Kroger over the collapse of their proposed $24.6 billion merger. The demand includes a disputed $600 million termination fee and additional damages, with a Delaware trial scheduled for October 19, 2026.
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Albertsons Companies is seeking more than $9 billion from Kroger in litigation over their failed supermarket merger. The demand is an allegation in a Delaware Chancery Court case, not money a court has awarded. A two-week trial is scheduled to begin October 19, 2026, although the live docket should be checked for any change.

What Albertsons is asking for

Albertsons says Kroger breached obligations in the merger agreement and is pursuing a termination fee of $600 million plus additional damages. The combined demand exceeds $9 billion, according to an October 12, 2026 report by Bloomberg Law. Albertsons’ earlier filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission described the damages as an amount to be determined at trial, rather than giving a final court-approved calculation.

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The $600 million fee and the additional damages are separate elements of Albertsons’ asserted claim. The fee is a contractual payment Albertsons says became due when the transaction failed. The larger damages request seeks compensation beyond that fee, but the precise calculation has not been established in the publicly described materials.

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Why the proposed merger failed

Kroger agreed to acquire Albertsons in a transaction valued at $24.6 billion, a figure cited in the Federal Trade Commission’s case record. News headlines sometimes round that value to $25 billion. The FTC challenged the acquisition as anticompetitive, arguing that combining two of the country’s largest supermarket operators could harm competition. The transaction was halted in September 2024.

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The regulatory challenge and the later damages lawsuit are related but legally distinct. The FTC’s action addressed whether the merger could proceed under antitrust law. The Delaware case asks whether either company violated contractual duties connected with the proposed deal and, if so, what damages are legally recoverable.

What each company claims

Party or issue Position described in the filings and reporting What remains unresolved
Albertsons Says Kroger failed to perform obligations required under the merger agreement to obtain regulatory approval; seeks the $600 million termination fee and more than $9 billion in total damages. Whether Kroger breached the agreement, whether the fee is payable, and the amount of any additional damages.
Kroger Denies Albertsons’ account, argues Albertsons failed to perform its own obligations, disputes that the termination fee is owed, and has filed counterclaims. Whether Kroger’s defenses and counterclaims prevail and whether Albertsons has any liability to Kroger.
Additional-damages theory The October 12 report characterizes Kroger’s criticism as focusing on estimated taxes connected with the premium paid in the proposed deal. The underlying calculation and expert evidence were not supplied in the available material.

These are the parties’ allegations and defenses. They do not establish that Kroger owes Albertsons more than $9 billion, or that Albertsons is responsible for the failed transaction.

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How the $9 billion figure relates to the deal

The requested amount is substantially larger than the $600 million termination fee because Albertsons is pursuing additional damages as well. It is also large relative to the proposed transaction’s $24.6 billion value, but the two figures measure different things: one is the headline value of the contemplated acquisition, while the other is a litigation demand tied to alleged contractual losses and related theories.

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At this stage, there is no public adjudication in the supplied record setting the damages at $9 billion, $9.3 billion, or any other amount. “More than $9 billion” and “$9.3 billion” are descriptions of Albertsons’ demand in news coverage, not an award or a court finding.

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When the trial is expected to start

Albertsons’ SEC filing lists October 19, 2026, as the start of a two-week trial in Delaware Chancery Court. Scheduling can change, and the exact status, filings, and hearing dates should be confirmed on the court’s live docket before relying on them. The eventual trial record may also clarify the damages model, expert testimony, and the companies’ competing accounts.

What happens next

  1. Pretrial proceedings: The parties continue presenting evidence and legal arguments about the merger agreement, regulatory-approval duties, and the counterclaims.
  2. Trial: The Chancery Court is expected to hear testimony and expert evidence beginning October 19, subject to docket changes.
  3. Decision: The court must decide liability before calculating any contractual fee or additional damages. It could award less than Albertsons requests, award nothing, or determine that a different amount is owed.
  4. Possible further proceedings: Depending on the judgment, the parties may seek post-trial relief or appeal. The available materials do not establish the likely timing or outcome.
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Why the distinction between a demand and an award matters

Merger-breakup disputes often involve several layers of risk: a transaction may be blocked by regulators, while the contract governing the deal allocates responsibility for pursuing approval and managing that process. A large damages number can therefore appear in a complaint or filing before a judge has tested the evidence. In this case, Albertsons’ demand, Kroger’s denial and counterclaims, and the FTC’s earlier antitrust challenge should be treated as separate parts of the story until the Delaware court rules.

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As of the October 12, 2026 report, the precise damages computation, the current docket posture and the ultimate result remain unresolved.

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