Pepsi, Walmart accused of price-fixing, market manipulation in class action lawsuit

*Pepsi and Walmart currently face a class action lawsuit for alleged decade-long price-fixing of soft drinks, harming consumers and violating antitrust laws operating in the United States

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

PepsiCo and Walmart have been accused in a new consumer class action lawsuit of orchestrating a decade-long price-fixing and market manipulation scheme that allegedly inflated the cost of Pepsi soft drinks at retailers across the United States (US).

The concerned consumers’ class action lawsuit filed Monday, December 15, 2025, in a Federal court in New York, has alleged the two companies entered into an unlawful agreement that gave Walmart preferential wholesale pricing on Pepsi products while forcing competing retailers to pay higher prices.

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Plaintiffs said the arrangement violated Federal antitrust law and ultimately harmed consumers by jacking up retail prices outside Walmart stores in the American country, agency report said.

Allegations of preferential pricing

The complaint noted that Pepsi offered Walmart favourable pricing and other incentives designed to maintain a consistent “price gap” that allowed the retail giant to sell Pepsi products at lower prices than its competitors in the market.

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To preserve that gap, the lawsuit also purported that Pepsi raised wholesale prices charged to other retailers, effectively shifting higher costs onto consumers who did not shop at Walmart.

The plaintiffs further contended that the pricing arrangement discouraged competition among retailers and insulated Walmart from price pressure, while smaller chains and independent stores were left at a disadvantage.

Link to prior FTC regulatory enforcement

The consumer lawsuit follows the Federal Trade Commission’s decision May this year to drop a case brought during President Joe Biden’s administration accusing Pepsi of violating the Robinson-Patman Act, a 1936 law aimed at preventing discriminatory pricing practices that favour large buyers over smaller competitors.

It was gathered that the FTC’s case named Pepsi as the sole defendant and did not include Walmart. In that matter, the agency alleged Pepsi had offered preferential pricing and promotional benefits to Walmart while denying similar terms to other retailers.

Pepsi, however, denied wrongdoing, and the case was later withdrawn by the agency, report noted.

Plaintiffs in the new lawsuit cite similar conduct, arguing that Pepsi’s alleged preferential treatment of Walmart went beyond lawful discounting and crossed into anticompetitive coordination.

Proposed nationwide consumer class action

The proposed class includes all consumers in the United States, who purchased Pepsi soft drinks from non-Walmart retailers since January 2015.

The lawsuit seeks damages and other relief on behalf of consumers who allegedly paid higher prices as a result of the claimed scheme between the two organisations.

Pepsi and Walmart have not yet publicly responded to the new lawsuit as of the time of filing the report.

The case adds to ongoing scrutiny of pricing practices between major manufacturers and dominant retailers, particularly as regulators and private plaintiffs examine whether discount arrangements unlawfully harm competition and consumers.

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