Energizer’s 2018 acquisition preceded higher battery prices and plant closures in Fennimore and Portage

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) recently called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and conduct a retrospective analysis of the 2018 Energizer-Spectrum Brands merger, which has led to price hikes for consumers and threatened hundreds of jobs in Wisconsin. Since the merger, Energizer has dominated the battery market, raising prices and announcing their plans to close two plants in Fennimore and Portage, laying off hundreds of Wisconsin union workers.

“Following this merger, hundreds of Wisconsinites are now on the cusp of losing a good-paying, union job. Revisiting this merger, on behalf of these workers and the consumers who now face higher prices, is clearly in the public interest and squarely within the [Federal Trade] Commission’s authority to investigate mergers both before and after they are completed,” wrote Senator Baldwin. “I urge the Commission to swiftly undertake a thorough investigation into the 2018 merger, which unfortunately the Commission has not yet done.”

In 2018, the FTC unconditionally cleared Energizer’s acquisition of Spectrum Holdings’ battery business Rayovac, resulting in Energizer controlling an estimated 40 percent of the United States’ battery market, 60 percent of the world hearing aid battery market, and 85 percent of the total battery market.

In January of this year, Energizer announced its plans to close their plants in Fennimore and Portage – both of which were included in the 2018 merger – in favor of off shoring Wisconsin manufacturing jobs and sending other jobs to states with fewer worker protections. The proposed shutdowns could eliminate hundreds of good-paying, union jobs in Wisconsin. Senator Baldwin is calling on the FTC to conduct a retrospective analysis of its antitrust enforcement activity, or lack thereof, on the American manufacturing industry – including how past choices have impacted workers.

“This retrospective must examine the extent to which the Commission has historically stood on the sidelines while the American manufacturing sector has used consolidation to reduce the share of its workforce that is represented by a union,” continued Senator Baldwin. “The anti competitive concerns known at the time of the [Energizer-Spectrum Brands] merger, the plain anti competitive effects of the consummated merger, and the disturbing pricing behavior that has followed suggest that it was a mistake for the agency to forego a more thorough investigation of the 2018 merger.”

Following Senator Baldwin’s demands for answers about why the Commission permitted the Energizer-Spectrum Brands merger to proceed with limited scrutiny, despite the obvious harms to workers and consumers, the FTC and Department of Justice in July released new draft Merger Guidelines – which guide the agencies’ review of mergers and acquisitions to determine compliance with federal antitrust laws – that would improve how the agencies evaluate mergers to prevent harm to consumers, workers, and businesses.

“More officials in the federal government need to step up to the plate and follow Senator Baldwin’s example,” said Sean M. O’Brien, President of Teamsters General. “Demand the corporations that are hiking prices for customers while shipping jobs overseas be held accountable. Energizer is a greedy corporation engaged in the destruction of middle-class communities and obvious anti-competitive behavior. To stand by and do nothing while this goes on is pure cowardice.”

When asked to comment on Sen. Baldwin’s request for an investigation, Energizer Holdings Communications Manager, John J. Leiby stated the company “did not wish to comment at this time.”

The current Energizer time line shared with employees at the Fennimore plant, has the first significant layoffs will beginning in January 2024, continuing in phases until the last positions are eliminated in July 2024, with some possibly staying on until that September at the latest. 

Portage plant layoffs will begin in October 2023 and will continue in phases until everyone’s position is eliminated in June 2024.