Rite Aid's Pittsburgh Future Unclear After Walgreens Drops Takeover Bid

PITTSBURGH, PA - Uncertainties abound over whether any Rite Aid stores will remain in the Pittsburgh market after drugstore chain Walgreens on Thursday decided to scuttle its deal to buy the company.

Instead, Walgreens will purchase nearly half of its smaller rival’s stores for $5.8 billion.

In October 2015, Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, said it would buy Rite Aid, the third-largest chain, for $9.5 billion. But in a statement, Walgreens said it decided to call of the acquisition after the Federal Trade Commission said the deal wouldn’t gain antitrust approval.

Rite Aid, which had nearly 4,600 stores as of May, will sell 2,186 of them to Walgreens, Reuters reported. Specific stores being sold were not identified, but Rite-Aid said they are mainly in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

David Balto, an antitrust lawyer working with groups opposing the takeover, suggested it might not matter which stores Rite Aid retains.

"Rite Aid's future is going to be bleak after they sell these stores,” he told Reuters. “This is still going to raise some serious questions. It's still taking out a major competitor.”

Photo by Mike Mozart via Creative Commons.