Were in the money? Mike Coupe cant guarantee his staff jobs
THE PROPOSED £12 billion merger between Sainsburys and Asda will be one of the biggest deals in British retail history. They are the second and third biggest supermarkets in the UK and their combined revenues are predicted to reach £51 billion. Together, their market share could reach 31.4%––more than Tesco, which has a 27.6% share. Its no surprise that the senior executives involved are going to make a lot of money.
But it doesnt excuse Mike Coupe, the boss of Sainsburys, who was caught singing Were in the Money as he waited to be interviewed by ITV News. Coupe, who expects Sainsburys to make £500 million in extra profit from the deal, said it was an unfortunate choice of song, from the musical 42nd Street, which I saw last year. He said he apologised if I have offended anyone. A Sainsburys spokesman later said that to attach any wider meaning to this innocent, personal moment is preposterous. Calling it preposterous may be strong. Mike Coupe is about to make a fortune from the merger, was about to be interviewed to discuss the merger and the song that just so happened to stay in his head was about getting rich.
The clip bothered a lot of people. It bothered people who dont like it rubbed in their faces that in the current climate, some people are still making millions. But it will have seriously bothered those working for Sainsburys and Asda. Though Coupe has said there will be no job losses or store closures, there are fears they will come anyway. Sir Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, has encouraged the Competition and Markets Authoritys new chief, Andrew Tyrie, to get tough with monopolies, adding that the companies should be forced to sell off stores if the merger meant they dominated a particular area. If stores are sold, jobs are likely to be lost. Sainsburys later admitted that regulatory authorities could force them to offload stores, and GlobalData suggested that at least 75 stores where the two companies overlap could close. The number of staff working at 75 stores is anywhere between 7,500 and 10,000. The shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said that without proper watchdog vetting, British shoppers could suffer from rising prices and British workers may be fearing for their jobs. It looks like either way, jobs are at risk.
I had this thought when I was checking my Twitter feed this week. One user wrote that he was in Sainsburys and heard a shop attendant say to another, He can sing “Were in the Money”, but he cant guarantee our jobs. When dozens of people are saying that jobs will be a risk, its hard to believe Mike Coupe. Its harder to believe him when money appears to be the only thing on his mind. Either way, Coupe is not persuading the people that matter most: the people on the shop floor cleaning, stacking shelves and putting through transactions. These people, as well as the back-office workers whose administrative functions will be duplicated, are all right to be worried. So are suppliers, who will have less negotiating power now that the supergroup will have such a large market share. Mike Coupe and the Sainsburys chairman, David Tyler, sound confident and optimistic. But consensus elsewhere appears to be that just about everyone could potentially lose from this detail––except the companies and those who profit most from their success.
[contf] [contfnew] 
CityAM
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
