More Changes on the Horizon at Albertsons

Around 400 Safeway corporate employees will be laid off later this year as part of Albertsons’ previously announced plan to reduce costs by $1.5 billion over the next three years. In February, it was announced that the company would be consolidating and combining the Intermountain Division with their Denver Division, which will be known as the Mountain West Division. Albertsons stated, “As we continue to evolve and enhance our retail operations, a core part of that effort is ensuring our organizational structure properly enables strong local operational excellence across the regions we serve and also leverages our size and scale,” the grocer said. “As such, we recently made some divisional leadership updates, placing some of our best leaders in new roles and providing new opportunities for our team, as we continue to deliver on our strategy to earn customers for life. We are also combining our Intermountain and Denver divisions into a new division called the Mountain West Division, enabling us to operate in new and innovative ways as we serve our customers and communities.” As part of these changes, John Cosgrove, head of the Intermountain Division who has been with Albertsons for 47 years, will depart in the summer of 2025. Meanwhile, Todd Broderick, former head of the Denver Division, retired last year following the failed Kroger-Albertsons merger. His retirement came after the FTC and nine attorneys general accused him and Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran of destroying evidence related to the merger discussions.

Albertsons isn’t the only retailer undergoing significant changes following the failed merger. Kroger is also laying off corporate employees, with 200 job cuts compared to Albertsons’ 400 layoffs across three corporate locations. Albertsons gave a brief statement regarding the layoffs, “As we continue delivering fresh, affordable food to our customers, we are focusing on key priority areas that support our go-to-market strategy. As part of this prioritization work, we announced team restructures and a small number of eliminated roles to improve efficiency,”