Dollar General joins bidding war for Family Dollar, offering $400,000 more than Dollar Tree

The dollar wars are heating up. Last month mostly suburban Dollar Tree agreed to buy Family Dollar, which is mostly located in poor rural and urban areas, for about $8.5 billion. On Monday, Dollar General stepped into the ring, offering $8.9 billion for Family Dollar, Michael de la Merced reports for The New York Times. (Associated Press photo)

"Dollar General’s proposal would create the nation’s largest discount variety retailer, Ely Portillo reports for the Charlotte Observer. "Dollar General is No. 1 in the category, trailed by Family Dollar. The combined company would have almost 20,000 stores, $28 billion in revenue and more than 160,000 employees." Family Dollar has about 8,100 stores nationwide. Dollar Tree has around 5,000 stores.

Rick Dreiling, CEO of Tennessee-based Dollar General, "told investors that his company’s offer is a better deal for Family Dollar’s shareholders both because it has a higher price and doesn’t include stock," Portillo writes. "Dollar Tree’s cash-and-stock deal includes $59.60 a share in cash and $14.90 worth of Dollar Tree stock for each share of Family Dollar." (Read more)