The Latest Breaking News from Albertson

A proposed $25 billion supermarket mega-merger disintegrated Wednesday in bitter recriminations between Albertsons and would-be suitor Kroger following US court rulings blocking the deal.

Two US courts ruled against supermarket giant Kroger's planned $24.6 billion acquisition of rival chain Albertsons on Tuesday, dealing an existential threat to the merger in a win for the Federal Trade Commission, which had argued the deal would harm consumers.

The Washington state Supreme Court has swept aside the last legal obstacle to a $4 billion dividend by Albertson to its shareholders ahead of a controversial proposed merger with rival Kroger.

If the Federal Trade Commission clears grocery giant Albertsons' $20 billion sale to Kroger on schedule next month, the private-equity investors who control this collection of U.S. grocery and drug store chains will have squeezed out profits nine times larger than what they invested since 2006.