Jenna Greene, “Whole Foods’ Mixed Bag,” Legal Times, March 30, 2009

This article comprehensively summarizes the events and proceedings that led Whole Foods Market, Inc. to agree in March 2009 to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that its merger with Wild Oats Markets, Inc. violated antitrust laws. According to freelance journalist Jenna Greene, the two-year fight ultimately cost Whole Foods $28 million and resulted in a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision
“that some fear will make it too easy for the FTC to effectively block future mergers.”

She quotes an unnamed antitrust expert who opined, “so long as their lawyers don’t get up there and fall asleep at the podium,” the FTC will win is merger challenges. Apparently, a week after the Whole Foods settlement, a $1.4 billion merger between CCC Holdings and Mitchell International collapsed after it was enjoined by a federal district judge who cited the new Whole Foods standard.