FTC Wants Wild Oats Buyout Genie Back in Bottle

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a long-shot appeal seeking to overturn a judge’s ruling and unravel Whole Foods’ purchase of rival Wild Oats.

Whole Foods has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to dismiss the case as moot because the deal is complete, the Wall Street Journal reports. The FTC responded Monday that there was still time to stop the integration of the stores, Bloomberg News reports.

Regulators usually give up antitrust litigation after a deal is completed because of the difficulty of unwinding it, the Washington Post reports.