California, Oregon, Illinois and five other U.S. states have asked a U.S. judge to award them legal fees for winning an order in federal court blocking Kroger’s now-abandoned $25 billion deal for grocery rival Albertsons.

Rodney McMullen and Vivek Sankaran tried mightily to bring their companies together. Now they’re leaving behind retailers on sharply different paths.

McMullen, 64, earned $15.7 million in 2023. The compensation included nearly $673,000 in performance-based incentive pay, according to SEC filings.

Kroger board member Ron Sargent is taking the helm at the nation’s largest supermarket chain as questions about former CEO Rodney Mullen continue.

The CEOs of both Kroger Co. and Albertsons Companies Inc., the two grocery giants that were involved in a failed mega-acquisition attempt, are both leaving their respective companies. Cincinnati-based Kroger announced Monday morning that Rodney McMullen resigned from the company “following a board investigation of his personal conduct that,

Ron Sargent, lead director of Kroger’s board of directors, was appointed to serve as CEO and chairman of the board on an interim basis. During the company’s Q4 earnings call this week, Sargent said Kroger has hired a nationally recognized search firm and will look at internal and external candidates to replace McMullen on a permanent basis.

Kroger (KR) and Albertsons (ACI) stock have hovered near 52-week highs with both acting as a defensive hedge against recent market volatility.

Albertsons said on Monday that its CEO Vivek Sankaran would be retiring and insider Susan Morris would assume the role, effective May 1.

Kroger on Thursday forecast annual same-store sales largely above Wall Street estimates, fueled by steady grocery demand as shoppers seek low-priced staples such as fruits and vegetables. Shares of th

The announcement Monday came the same day that Kroger’s CEO, Rodney McMullen, resigned after an investigation by the Cincinnati grocery company’s board into his “personal conduct.” That undisclosed conduct, “while unrelated to the business, was inconsistent with Kroger’s Policy on Business Ethics,” Kroger said in a news release.

Kroger is seeking a new path forward after the company said its long-tenured chief executive officer, Rodney McMullen, resigned following the board’s investigation into his personal conduct.

The leadership changes come just a few months after a federal judge temporarily halted a proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons.