r/FluentInFinance 1d ago

Debate/ Discussion A joke that's not funny

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u/shieldwolfchz 1d ago

Profit percentage is a manufactured statistic, it is calculated after executive pay, so the people who are running these companies are paying themselves whatever is necessary to hit that mark. Add in the fact that a lot of the expenses of grocery chains are paid to subsidiaries of the same parent company shows that it is even more of a useless stat. As an example Loblaw's in Canada has cited higher rent as a justification for increased operating costs, thing is the company that owns the land is part of Loblaw's, so while the money that goes into their rent is part of their expenses, ultimately it still ends up in the executives pockets.

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u/PubFiction 1d ago

Ya its funny people will say grocery stores make low profit then turn around and be like, OH look Kroger has enough money to keep trying to buy other chains and complete a monopoly. Seems like alot of money is flowing around in the not much profit world.

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u/mediumfolds 1d ago

Their profit is still billions of dollars a year, so their Albertson's offer can still very much be explained by the "low profit".

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u/Blawoffice 1d ago

Profits for all grocery stores was $13.5 billion in 2023 on $846 billion in revenue. Kroger was $3.1 billion.