By Michael Hiltzik
Source: Los Angeles Times
It should be obvious by now that the driving force of many corporate mergers, if not most or even all mergers, is the goal of enriching insiders. The pending merger of supermarket giants Albertsons and Kroger, however, injects that impulse with steroids.
At the heart of the $20-billion deal announced Oct. 14 is a $4-billion dividend that was scheduled to be paid Monday to Albertsons stockholders until it was temporarily blocked by a Washington state court.