Albertsons CEO to step down after Kroger merger fails. What he says about grocer’s future
Its planned merger with Kroger over, Boise’s Albertsons supermarket chain is getting a new CEO.
Vivek Sankaran, who has run the nation’s second-largest traditional grocery company since September 2019, said he will retire effective May 1.
“It has been a privilege to lead Albertsons Cos. through a critical period of evolution,” he said in a news release.
He will be succeeded by Susan Morris, executive vice president and chief operations officer since 2018. Morris also will join the Albertsons Cos.’ board of directors, replacing Sankaran, the company said.
The announcement Monday came the same day that Kroger’s CEO, Rodney McMullen, resigned after an investigation by the Cincinnati grocery company’s board into his “personal conduct.” That undisclosed conduct, “while unrelated to the business, was inconsistent with Kroger’s Policy on Business Ethics,” Kroger said in a news release.
Kroger operates multiple chains including Fred Meyer, which has stores in the Boise area that compete with Albertsons.
Albertsons called off its proposed sale to Kroger and sued the rival grocer for billions of dollars the morning after a federal judge in Portland blocked the merger, the Idaho Statesman reported Dec. 11. The deal would have combined the nation’s largest and second-largest traditional grocery chains into a colossus and extended a lifeline to Albertsons.
During the government’s antitrust trial, Sankaran had testified that Albertsons needed to join Kroger. He said layoffs and store closures could result if Kroger’s takeover was blocked.
After the merger collapsed, Albertsons sued Kroger for billions of dollars, saying it had failed to make its best efforts to complete the merger as required by the companies’ agreement.
In January, Albertsons laid off corporate and division-support employees around the country, a spokesperson told the Statesman. Store employees were not affected by the cuts, the company said.
None of that was mentioned in Sankaran’s retirement announcement.
“It has been a privilege to lead Albertsons Cos. through a critical period of evolution and I couldn’t be more confident in the Company’s future with Susan at the helm,” Sankaran said in the announcement. “ … I have no doubt in her ability to usher in a new phase of growth and improve our value proposition with customers and the communities where we operate.”
Albertsons’ chairman, Jim Donald, said the board has worked for several years to choose a new CEO. “The Board is confident that Susan is the ideal person to lead the Company into its next chapter of growth,” he said.
Morris said Albertsons “has an incredibly bright future and the best team in the business.”
Morris has 40 years of experience in grocery retailing and now oversees more than 2,200 stores across 34 states. She also serves on the board of Idacorp, parent of Idaho Power.
Joe Albertson founded the iconic Idaho company 85 years ago with a single supermarket on the same site now occupied by a newer Albertsons store at 16th and State streets on the edge of downtown Boise.
It is Idaho’s largest company by far as measured by workforce and by revenue, with 285,000 employees nationwide and $79 billion in sales in its latest fiscal year. It is the nation’s fourth-largest grocery retailer after Walmart, Kroger and Costco, according to FoodIndustry.com.
Albertsons’ 24 banners include Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci’s Food Lovers Market.
This story was originally published March 4, 2025 at 1:31 PM.
