Staples Agrees to Buy Office Depot for About $6.3 Billion
Source: Bloomberg
by Allison Prang & Renee Dudley
Staples Inc. announced plans to buy Office Depot Inc. for about $6.3 billion, forging a deal that will reduce the U.S. office-supply industry to a single major chain and test the limits of antitrust regulators.
Office Depot shareholders will get $7.25 in cash and 0.2188 of a share in Staples stock at closing, the retailers said in a statement Wednesday. The price represents a premium of 44 percent over Office Depot’s closing share price on Feb. 2.
The two companies, which agreed to the merger after pressure from activist investor Starboard Value, would create a retail chain with about $39 billion in revenue and thousands of stores. 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.
“The competitive environment has changed, but the government will look carefully into the effects on prices,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “The merger is a game changer.”
FULL story and video at link.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-04/staples-to-buy-office-depot-in-deal-valued-at-6-3-billion
Doesn't R money's old company own Staples
= new reply since forum marked as read
Hell, I miss the good old days of family-owned office supply stores in every town.
http://storyofstuff.org/
http://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-change/
I like online shopping but sometimes you cannot wait their turnaround times - especially if the item you're purchasing is being sold to you from a company in Guangzhou or Shenzhen and they're shipping it China Mail.
Radioshack has effectively gone. Now one major office supplies store chain left. What's left? Wallyworld for everything? 
Last edited Wed Feb 4, 2015, 08:40 PM - Edit history (1)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141006215
