The confusing sign outside the grocery store at 43rd and Main says it's a Wild Oats but it's actually a Whole Foods. But if the Federal Trade Commission gets its way, it could be a Wild Oats again after all.
After years of legal wrangling over antitrust allegations, Whole Foods was allowed to buy out its biggest competitor, Wild Oats, in 2007. After millions were spent merging the two chains over these past two years, the FTC is now trying to halt the merger.
To recap: The two companies completely merge. The FTC sues to halt already completed merger. One Whole Foods' lawyer compared it to trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. Another lawyer said it was like trying to unscramble eggs. But wait, it gets even more nonsensical:
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission also said that if theIncourt ruled that the agency had a strong case against Whole
Foods, the government would also seek to rebrand the acquired
stores with their former Wild Oats signs and create an
independent management team to supervise them.
other words, if the FTC wins it will take over the former Wild Oats
stores. America could soon have a nationalized organic health grocery
store. To increase its odds of winning, the FTC has filed three different suits so even if one gets thrown out of court, it can
still proceed.
Whole Foods is fighting the lawsuits as if its
life depends on it (very well could) but it's not getting much help. It sought subpoenas of financial records from its competitors to show the court they
do fine no matter which organic giant they're facing. Some of the
rivals sense blood -- or really don't want to give up their
financials -- and are asking the courts
to throw out Whole Foods subpoenas. Meanwhile, Whole Foods
says it's spent more than $16 million in legal bills to get the merger done
in the first place, and now will have to probably spend more than that
to fight of the FTC.
It's almost as if the FTC's issue with Whole Foods is personal. Maybe William Kovacic, the chairman of the FTC, got bad service or food poisoning at one of the stores. Whatever the reason, you would think the government would have more important things to run than a chain of grocery stores.
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The FTC is is attacking Whole Foods with a huge vendetta and they are using taxpayer's monies to harass them. This is government abuse at it's worst. The Government can attack a company with unlimited funds for legal fees even when it is TOTALLY WRONG. It's unbelievable the absolute abuse of power here.
I'd like to know which competitors of whole foods paid off which Senators or politicians to put pressure on the FTC to continue this outrageous attack.
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