PepsiCo and Walmart may have escaped federal scrutiny earlier this year, but a new lawsuit suggests the legal pressure is far from over. A proposed PepsiCo, Walmart price fixing class action accuses the companies of using their market power to inflate prices for consumers shopping outside Walmart’s aisles.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, was brought by a group of consumers who say they were forced to pay more for Pepsi products at retailers that did not receive the same preferential pricing as Walmart. The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and monetary damages.
Allegations of Market Power Abuse
The complaint claims PepsiCo and Walmart exploited their dominant positions in the soda and grocery markets to enrich themselves “to the detriment of consumers and benefit from suppressed competition.” Though a Federal Trade Commission investigation into the companies was dropped during the Trump administration, the lawsuit argues that newly unsealed FTC allegations reveal the contours of an unlawful pricing arrangement.
According to the filing, Walmart is PepsiCo’s largest customer — a relationship so critical that Pepsi has warned investors it would suffer a “material adverse effect” if it lost Walmart’s business.
