I hope I don't have to write the word "FTC" for a long time, now that the governmental organization that's been out to get that devious Whole Foods company has won. Sort of. No one's really a winner here.
Whole Foods, which has publicly regretted taking over rival Wild Oats, agreed to give up use of the name and sell some former Wild Oats stores. Kansas City had two Wild Oats before Whole Foods bought them. The store at 6621 w.119th Street will remain Whole Foods, while the 4301 Main location, which never took down its Wild Oats sign, will be sold.
Under the agreement, the trustee has one year to find buyers for the 32 Whole Foods stores; 19 had already closed. Whole Foods owner CEO John Mackey promised that until 13 stores are actually sold by the trustee in charge of unloading them, they'll remain operating as Whole Foods. Regarding the employees, he said, "we will be offering team members in stores that are sold the choice of
either a guaranteed job offer in another store or an enhanced severance
package."
It's unclear whether the trustee -- who hasn't been appointed -- will try to sell the stores individually or will try to find a buyer for the whole Wild Oats franchise.
the leases of the 13 stores are marketed separately than the trademarks
to the Wild Oats name, making individual owners a possibility, but the
whole point of the FTC's lawsuit was to give Whole Foods a
competitor.
Daniel Gross of Slate made a great point in 2007 about the Bush-era FTC:
They have approved almost every deal. If the nation's largest hogThe article is titled Bush's war on Whole Foods. Someone congratulate him, because he's the one who won.producer buys the second-largest hog producer? OK. Telecommunications
giants SBC and AT&T want to merge? No problem. Giant supermarket
company Albertson's and giant supermarket company SuperValu get
together? You got it. But when Whole Foods, the extremely successful,
bobo-friendly, high-end, blue-state organic grocery chain and Wild
Oats, the less successful, bobo-friendly, high-end, blue-state organic
grocery chain, say they want to merge, the answer is no.
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