Staples and Office Depot want to pledge their future and their fortunes together in corporate matrimony, and the Federal Trade Commission objects to their union. The companies and the Federal Trade Commission are making their cases before a federal judge, and the key question in this merger seems to be whether large corporations plan to buy their office supplies from Amazon in the future. An Amazon executive testified that they haven’t signed any major companies, and aren’t really pursuing big corporate contracts. Yet. [More]
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Staples, Office Depot, And FTC Make Opening Arguments In Merger Hearing
By 3.21.16
Today was the first day of the federal court hearing where Staples and Office Depot are making their cases about whether a proposed merger of the two companies would be beneficial to or terrible for consumers. Today, both sides made their opening arguments. The FTC is concerned about possible price hikes for consumers, and the two office supply companies are concerned that Amazon is going to crush them. [More]
Staples, Office Depot: FTC’s Opposition To Billion-Dollar Merger Is “Flawed,” “Wrong”
By 3.18.16
Three months after federal regulators filed a lawsuit to stop the nightmare dream formation of the $6.3 billion StaplesMaxDepot Voltron , the CEOs of the mega-office supply chains are fed up, and they’re taking that frustration to the customers by airing their true thoughts on the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to stop the deal. [More]
Staples To Close 50 Stores In Preparation For Life With Or Without Office Depot
By 3.4.16
As it awaits the final verdict from regulators on its pending billion-dollar purchase of rival office supply chain Office Depot, Staples is preparing to go it alone by announcing plans to shutter at least 50 of its own stores in order to slow declining sales. [More]
Essendant Agrees To Buy Commercial Business From Staples And Office Depot If FTC Approves Merger
By 2.17.16
Staples and Office Depot want to merge and form one mega-chain of office supply stores that you mostly visit to drop off UPS packages. The Federal Trade Commission doesn’t approve of this union, because both sell supplies and serve as wholesalers to smaller office suppliers. The companies announced late yesterday that they’ve reached an agreement with Essendant, a smaller national supplier, to take over some of that business if the merger goes through. [More]
Staples Cuts Jobs In Preparation For Life With Or Without Office Depot Merger
By 1.26.16
It appears that Staples is adhering to the adage, “hope for the best, prepare for the worst,” when it comes to their challenged billion-dollar merger with rival Office Depot. This week, the retailer took steps to streamline its operation, changing its management team and reportedly laying off hundreds of employees at its headquarters. [More]
Staples, Office Depot Extend Merger Deadline To Fight Antitrust Lawsuit
By 1.20.16
Just because the Federal Trade Commission went to court in an effort to block the pending merger of Staples and Office Depot, doesn’t mean the companies are putting the mega-deal behind them. In fact, the office-supply chains have extend the contract for their proposed $6.3 billion merger to allow more time to placate antitrust regulators. [More]
Federal Regulators Still Objecting To Marriage Of Staples And Office Depot
By 12.21.15
Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission went to court in an effort to block the pending merger of office-supply mega chains Staples and Office Depot, saying that it would result in too little competition in the market for supplies being sold to businesses. Since then, Staples has tried to revise the deal to make it more palatable, but to no avail. [More]
FTC Says Staples-Office Depot Deal Is A No-Go, Files Antitrust Lawsuit To Stop Mega-Merger
By 12.7.15
The nightmare dream of the formation of the $6.3 billion StaplesMaxDepot Voltron has officially hit a (very big) speed bump: federal regulators unsurprisingly filed a complaint today charging that the proposed mega-merger’s affect on commercial businesses would violate antitrust laws. [More]
Regulators Reportedly Poised To Block Staples, Office Depot Mega-Merger
By 12.1.15
Providing office supplies for commercial businesses could be the final nail in the coffin of the would-be formation of the $6.3 billion StaplesMaxDepot Voltron, with regulators reportedly poised to block the mega-merger next week. [More]
Sale Of Commercial Supply Business Could Let Staples-Office Depot Merger Go Through
By 10.26.15
One of the barriers to the formation of the StaplesMaxDepot office-supply Voltron has been the commercial supply businesses that both companies run: in addition to running retail stores, they both also do business delivering office supplies to corporate clients. One possibility could let the mega-merger go forward: Staples could sell its commercial supply business to competitor Essendant. [More]
Staples Kicks Off Brown Thursday Announcements: Will Close On Thanksgiving
By 10.1.15
Over the last few years, a growing trend for retailers has been to open up on Thanksgiving Day, sometimes at an obscenely early hour. Maybe that isn’t working out so well for them after all: Staples, one retailer that has opened on Gray Thursday for the last few years, has decided to close up and let its workers spend the holiday at home. [More]
Office Depot, Staples Merger Under Scrutiny In Europe
By 9.25.15
The $6.3 billion merger between the top two office supply chains has hit yet another bump: the European Union opened an “extensive” investigation into the would-be union of Staples and rival Office Depot. [More]
Antitrust Concerns For Staples, Office Depot Merger Now Center On Corporate Supply Contracts
By 9.10.15
In an effort to gain approval for their $6.3 billion proposed marriage to Staples, Office Depot announced last month it would close about 400 stores. While that move could certainly help the merger process, it appears that federal regulators are less worried about retail sales at physical stores, and more concerned about their contracts to provide supplies to large corporations and businesses. [More]
Amazon Echo Is Coming To Staples, But Not One Near You – Only Online
By 8.3.15
So who will be the first retailer to offer Amazon’s high-tech, sort-of assistant speaker? None other than the e-tailer’s office supply rival Staples. [More]
Costco, Three Other Retailers Suspend Photo Sites After Third-Party Host Suffers Possible Breach
By 7.21.15
Less than a week after CVS took down its CVSphoto.com site while it investigates a possible credit card breach, at least four other retailers including Costco and Sam’s Club have suspended online photo services following notification by the company that manages or hosts photo services for the sites of a possible data breach. [More]
Office Depot, Staples One Step Closer To Walking Down The Office Supply-Wedding Aisle
By 6.19.15
Back in February Staples presented Office Depot with a freshly sharpened bouquet of pencils (really, $6.3 billion) as a token of its desire to live as one for the rest of their office supply days. Now, three months later, Office Depot has accepted the proposal. [More]
Some Freebies And Discounts To Help You Get Through Tax Day
By 4.15.15
Depending on your tax situation, the approach of Tax Day is either a paperwork-filled nightmare or a day to kick back and enjoy having filed and received your refund back in January. It doesn’t matter when you filed for the growing number of Tax Day discounts and freebies at stores and restaurants, though: here are a few that might keep you fed and relaxed today. [More]
