Slashdot Mirror
Staples To Buy Office Depot For $6.3 Billion
An anonymous reader writes: Today Staples announced plans to buy Office Depot in a deal worth $6.3 billion. This is a huge consolidation within the office supply industry. Office Depot and OfficeMax were the second- and third-biggest suppliers when they merged in 2013. Adding those to the enormity of Staples would effectively bring the U.S. under a single office supply chain. "The move is expected to draw scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, though regulators have been increasingly willing to approve retail mergers in light of burgeoning e-commerce competition. ... This isn't the first time Staples has tried to buy Office Depot. In 1997, the FTC derailed Staples' acquisition of its rival as anticompetitive. By 2013, though, the agency's view had shifted. When the FTC allowed Office Depot to buy OfficeMax, it said the advent of online retailing ensured competition in the market for office supplies. Consumers today also rely more heavily on big-box chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for office products, the commission said."
As I recollect, Staples does huge business with small and medium companies, mostly on a delivery basis. Having been in their stores, I doubt walk-in customers are a large part of their revenue. One potential outcome here would be for Staples to close its retail locations (they suck) so that that the better-stocked Office Depot can handle individual/walk-in customers while the Staples brand focuses on the B2B market via internet & delivery.
That said, I don't have a good feeling about the decrease in the number of office supplies stores near my home, which WILL decrease my options.