Overview
- Kroger will make a one-off $350 million cash payment to Ocado in January after scrapping a planned automated warehouse in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- The grocer will close three Ocado-run robotic fulfillment centers in Groveland, Florida; Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin; and Frederick, Maryland.
- Five automated sites will continue operating in Monroe, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver and Detroit, with a Phoenix facility still slated to open.
- Kroger is shifting e-commerce fulfillment to stores and expanding work with Instacart, DoorDash and Uber Eats to reduce costs and speed deliveries.
- The company forecasts an approximately $2.6 billion write-down in 2026, while Ocado has guided to about a $50 million hit to next-year fee revenues and saw its shares rise roughly 6% as Kroger’s stock fell around 6%.