I was thinking more about my marketing course. "Cash cow" is a valid marketing strategy. The major owners of A&P may have decided to not innovate their chain to be competitive in the long term. In the short term, their brand name and distribution network would continue to function for another decade or so. No further funds were dedicated to innovation, thus giving more "dividends" to the owners.

They may have taken a good look at the future of grocery retail and decided they didn't want to be there. But in the short-term, they maximized their return. More sensible than just walking away from all the stores when they decided not to modernize.

So I wouldn't call it "greed." Maybe it was just a business decision.