Good Week: Albertsons – The privately held grocery chain has acquired the publicly traded Rite Aid pharmacy chain in a move that the company hopes will allow it to keep pace with Walmart and Amazon as those firms move into the grocery business. A new corporate name and IPO are reportedly in the works for the blended company, which will now have close to 4,900 U.S. locations and combined annual sales of more than $80B.
Bad Week: KFC & DHL – The fast-food purveyor was forced to temporarily close about 800 of its nearly 900 locations in the U.K. due to a logistics error by delivery partner DHL halted delivery of (wait for it)… chicken. Looks like God saved the Queen after all… for a few days, at least.
Worse Week: Ford – The president of the automaker’s North American operations was ousted after reports of “inappropriate behavior” surfaced earlier this week. Men behaving badly: the fastest-rising cause of brand damage (and a long-simmering national epidemic).
