Dollar General May Have to Close More Than 4,000 Stores

Dollar General may have to divest more than double the 1,500 stores it said it was willing to sell if it wants to gain regulatory approval to buy archrival Family Dollar. The Federal Trade Commission may require the country's No. 1 dollar store chain to divest more than 4,000 stores to win approval of its stalled $9.1 billion merger proposal, two sources close to the situation said Tuesday. There's concern among the FTC staff that the two chains are mainly in competition with each other — and not with Wal-Mart, drugstores and supermarkets, the sources said.