Photo by Philip Pessar on Unsplash
Kroger CEO Resigns Over ‘Personal Conduct,’ Board Investigating
March 4, 2025
Rodney McMullen, the Kroger CEO and chairman, has resigned effective immediately over what the company has called his “personal conduct.”
A press release announcement revealed that McMullen resigned from the company on Monday, March 3, “following a Board investigation of his personal conduct that, while unrelated to the business, was inconsistent with Kroger’s Policy on Business Ethics.”
Kroger did not elaborate on the details of the personal conduct in question.
Ronald “Ron” Sargent was elected as the interim CEO, also effective immediately, and Mark Sutton was immediately named as the company’s lead independent director.
“On February 21, the Board was made aware of certain personal conduct by Mr. McMullen and immediately retained outside independent counsel to conduct an investigation, which was overseen by a special Board committee,” the company said in a statement. “Mr. McMullen’s conduct is not related to the Company’s financial performance, operations or reporting, and it did not involve any Kroger associates.”
Kroger’s Latest Legal Quagmire
This is just the latest legal quagmire that the company is currently facing. The grocery giant is also dealing with a lawsuit from Albertsons following its failed merger.
Albertsons’ website displayed a statement on Dec. 11 stating that it is seeking “billions of dollars in damages from Kroger to make Albertsons and its shareholders whole.” Thus, it appears that the legal processes involving these two big supermarkets are only beginning.
Albertsons’ lawsuit, filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, accuses the grocer of violating a covenant of good faith and fair dealing by failing to “exercise ‘best efforts’ and to take ‘any and all actions’ to secure regulatory approval of the companies’ agreed merger transaction.”
The statement went on to say that the aforementioned was required to meet the terms of the prospective merger agreement.
Regarding the billions in damages, the business stated that it was entitled to $600 million as an early termination fee and that it would seek additional compensation for the years of effort — and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment — put into the merger pathway.
Kroger was quick to respond to claims coming from the other grocer, refuting them entirely in a press release.
“Albertsons’ claims are baseless and without merit. Kroger refutes these allegations in the strongest possible terms, especially in light of Albertsons’ repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process, which we will prove in court. This is clearly an attempt to deflect responsibility following Kroger’s written notification of Albertsons’ multiple breaches of the agreement, and to seek payment of the merger’s break fee, to which they are not entitled,” the statement read.
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