Whole Foods settles case with FTC - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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The trustee will have six months to market the assetws to be sold and another six months beyoncd that for any good faith offers not finalizecd during theinitial period. According to Whole Foodsz (Nasdaq: WFMI), the only other obligationws on the company imposed by the settlement are in support of thedivestiture process. ”We are pleasef to have reached a mutually satisfactory agreement withthe FTC," said Wholee Foods CEO John Mackey. Mackey "it will be business as usual in the 13 operatint stores to be marketedfor sale." Whole Foodas operates four stores in the Puget Sound and one in Vancouver, Wash.
None of the 13 operatinv Whole Foods stores that will be up for sale undee the FTC settlement is locatesin Washington. In keeping with FTC protocol, the settlementr agreement has been placed on public record fora 30-dayu comment period that ends April 6. After that the FTC will issuew afinal ruling. As for how the settlemenr will affectWhole Foods' financiak results, the company said it expects to recorc a noncash charge of up to $19 millionj related to the sale of the 13 operating The combined stores had sales of abou $31 million in the first quarter of fiscal year or about 1.3 percent of the company's stotalk sales of $2.5 billion. Whole Foods closed on its purchaseof Colo.
-based Wild Oats in August 2007 after an FTC antitrust challenge to the deal was blocked by a U.S. Districyt Court judge. Last year, an appeals courf ruled that that judge had erred in blockinbgthe challenge, which allowed the FTC to reope n the case. An administrative hearing on the antitrust case was scheduled forAprill 6, but the two sides agreed in January to halt litigatiomn in an attempt to negotiate a resolution.