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The failed merger and similar clawback clause between Kroger and Albertsons is currently destroying a significant part of the supply chain for food in the Pacif
by dabockster 10mo ago
The failed merger and similar clawback clause between Kroger and Albertsons is currently destroying a significant part of the supply chain for food in the Pacific Northwest. Grocery stores that have been open for 50-75 years - stores where whole neighborhoods and towns were built around - are closing forever, leaving those areas as food deserts.
Either way, this entertainment merger is going to get ugly. Consumers are absolutely going to get harmed either way with that clawback clause.
- thisisnotauser 10mo agoExcept you need food to live and tv shows are an artificially scarce resource that's actually free to distribute in unlimited quantities, so the harm is very different.
- ClikeX 10mo agoReal people work in this industry, though. A merger of this size is bound to come with some layoffs and canceled projects. It's not as bad as food scarcity, of course. But it can do some collateral damage.
- orionblastar 10mo agoDoes that mean the DCU Movies might get delayed or canceled?
- dabockster 10mo agoThat, plus fewer studios mean less creativity goes to the mainstream. If you thought AI slop was bad, go re-watch Star Wars Episode 8.
- raw_anon_1111 10mo agoYou will still have Amazon, Apple, Paramount, Disney, and NetMax spending billions each on content and streaming and Sony being the mercenary creating content for the highest bidder. WB under Discovery was already becoming an also ran and more financial engineering than a real company.
- AlexandrB 10mo agoSeems like a bad example. The problem with Episode 8 was not lack of creativity. Episode 7 was a complete retread of "A New Hope" and a bigger offender. At least blue Jedi milk is new.
- bananaflag 10mo agoEpisode 8 was a retread of Empire Strikes Back (ships chase through empty space while the main character trains with the old master on a wild planet). It seemed subversive just because ESB was subversive relative to ANH.
- NBJack 10mo agoComplete with "this guy will help us" to "oh no, they betrayed us!"
- staticman2 10mo agoEpisode 8 was subversive because it had self aware moments "trolling" the audience throughout like Luke mocking the idea Rey (and the audience) thought he would pick up a lightsaber again. It also has weird "subversive" dialogue about sacrifice being bad that doesn't really fit what's happening in the movie itself where sacrifice of two characters saves the day. Which is "subversive" in the sense that a movie with dialogue saying "this is a shitty movie plot" is subversive. It also rips off the ending of Return of the Jedi by killing the main bad guy so is "subversive" in that it trolls whoever was stuck making episode 9 without a functional villain.
- hopelite 10mo agoI’m not sure it’s a fair comparison, groceries that sell food on one hand and a brainwashing and propaganda delivery system (see History of criminal, industry/advertiser, FBI, CIA, Pentagon, and foreign nation direct ties to the industry) masquerading as “entertainment” on the other. You don’t have to be “harmed”, just do not pay them your money. Problem solved. If the prospect of not being “entertained” fills you with anxiety and frustration, maybe that’s something to reflect on.
- cwillu 10mo agoThe machine works in the aggregate, and so does the harm. Lets not pretend that all will be well if I just avoid the propoganda myself.
- hopelite 10mo agoThat makes no logical sense. So if I give up my “entertainment” subscriptions because the execs need their bonuses and drive the prices up to compensate for the penalty, causing me to think about how to spend quality time with my family paying games, reading books, and doing activities; is equally harmful as if I can’t but groceries in my town because the grocery store was closed?
- cwillu 10mo agoI most certainly did not imply that cancelling subscriptions is harmful; I think you read something I did not write.
- psunavy03 10mo ago[flagged]
- thordenmark 10mo agoIt's not like we aren't drowning in entertainment options. Food on the other hand, that's a real problem.
- alfiedotwtf 10mo ago12 Fast and the Furious, 42 X-Men movies… yeah - drowning
- fainpul 10mo agoNot to mention franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, Alien, Predator, Jurassic Park etc.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 10mo agoSpeaking of anti-trust, all of those franchises save Jurassic Park are owned by Disney through mergers.
- hulitu 10mo agoI'm still waiting for the "Alien vs Jurasic park". It must be a very entertaining movie. /s
- rvba 10mo agoBest you can get is Aliens vs Predator vs Terminator comic book (if you are 10 years old you can like it, it is betterr than most AvP stuff but that is a low hanging bar) I mean the franchise didnt get anything top tier apart from Aliens labirynth and the vP 2 game from.. 2001?
- loloquwowndueo 10mo agoLook back, not forward my dude. Plenty of good material from previous years. With the benefit of hindsight having filtered the crap out
- digitaltrees 10mo agoSounds like an opportunity to open grocery stores.
- alostpuppy 10mo agoI suspect in a lot of those places there is only the one supply chain.
- brookst 10mo agoUNfI is the big distriubor, Kehei is second. Both serve essentially all grocery stores.
- themafia 10mo agoSo when it's not happening as readily as we expect what do we do next?
- ssl-3 10mo agoWe just sit back and watch as the invisible hands of capitalism cleanse themselves of our existence.
- pantalaimon 10mo agoAldi is always looking for property
- fragmede 10mo agomoney is just this construct that we invented to distribute limited resources. why are we doing this?
- thayne 10mo agoI don't understand how that kind of clause can be legal. Its existence puts anti-trust enforcement in a catch-22, either they allow the merger, which reduces competition, or they reject it, and the acquiree is decimated, also reducing competition.
- bmacho 10mo ago8.3(b) on pg. 79 says that "Regulatory Termination Fee" is $5,800,000,000 from Netflix to WB. (IANAL)
- toyg 10mo ago> I don't understand how that kind of clause can be legal. Arguably they promote a chilling effect around acquisitions, which does help competition: "don't try to buy something unless you're prepared to deal with a possible fallout" should result in fewer attempts at consolidating dominant positions. I'd almost be tempted to posit that such a clause should become mandatory for deals over a certain threshold (e.g. $1bn), with amounts determined according to certain parameters.
- grosswait 10mo agoForever seems pretty definitive
- nullbyte808 10mo agoI live a couple blocks down from one that was open for 40+ years. I use Amazon now for my groceries. I was gonna use Safeway but their prices are high.