, Columnist
Don't Cry for Tesco
It's far from certain Tesco will lose its crown as Britain's biggest supermarket.
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There's one big loser from J Sainsbury Plc's purchase of Walmart Inc.'s Asda: Tesco Plc. It will lose its crown as Britain's biggest supermarket by market share to a new rival. But that outcome is far from certain -- and not necessarily a bad thing.
Sainsbury's 7.3 billion-pound ($10 billion) acquisition of Asda will be subject to a lengthy antitrust review. CEO Mike Coupe has indicated that regulators will force only a limited number of stores to be sold -- but there's no guarantee of that.