Two big UK supermarkets talked about teaming up, then didn't

Sainsbury's held multibillion-pound talks about joining forces with Morrisons — Britain's second- and sixth-biggest supermarkets — from November 2025 to February 2026, then walked away. Together they would have 23.6% of shoppers' spending, near Tesco's 27.8%, Worldpanel by Numerator says. Both declined to comment. The CMA, Britain's competition watchdog, blocked Sainsbury's £7bn Asda purchase in 2019.