Plated Founders Advance $125 Million Suit Over Albertsons Deal

Albertsons Cos. must face claims that it integrated meal-kit service Plated into its wider operations after buying it, in a scheme to miss revenue milestones and hold back $125 million of the $300 million deal price, a Delaware judge ruled.

Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights III let the case move forward Monday in Delaware Chancery Court, finding it plausible that the grocery chain’s choice to focus on Plated’s brick-and-mortar potential, rather than its promising e-commerce platform, “was the product of an intent to avoid the earnout.”

“The reasonable inference allowed by these allegations is not that Albertsons sabotaged a company ...