BigHabitat
Level 2 Member
And then there was, one? The Wall Street Journal, USA today, and others are reporting that Staples is close to buying Office Depot.
Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. are in advanced talks to combine, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be a major step toward consolidating the retail market for pens, paper and other office supplies.
The price and structure of the proposed deal couldn’t be learned. Staples has a market value of about $11 billion, while Office Depot, which in 2013 absorbed rival OfficeMax, has a market value of about $4 billion. There is no guarantee a deal will be reached, the people cautioned.
Together, the two companies have roughly 4,000 stores and annual sales of more than $35 billion. A combination of the two likely would get a close look from antitrust regulators, who in 1997 sued successfully to block the same proposed merger, bankers and analysts have said.
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Merger talks between Staples and Office Depot highlight the pressures facing brick-and-mortar retail stores as consumers shift how and where they shop. Staples’ North American same-store sales haven’t risen since 2007, and Office Depot’s haven’t risen since 2006.
Analyst B. Habitat says that although the original attempt to merge Staples and Office Depot in 1997 was blocked for anti-trust reasons, customers have many choices for office supplies such as Costco, Amazon, and Jet.com (free 6 month trial here).
That can’t be good for us. We know there weren’t any benefits from the Office Depot / OfficeMax merger that we can point to.
And while OfficeDepot has had crappy tech deals for a while, a few times a year they give nice discounts on Visa gift cards which are cash discounts, and thus not limited to one address like the Staples easy rebates.
And does anyone think that gift card sales would be more frequent after a merger?
And what about the Chase Ink 5x bonus on Office Supplies. Would Amex keep a “category bonus” that only worked in one store chain?
AMEX gift cards 2.25% back at topcashback.
Title is pretty self explanatory isn’t it? Head over there if you are interested. Don’t use promo codes if you want cash back. Frequent Miler reports that portals have a new $2,000 card limit if you want the portal bonus.
Hey at least I didn’t drop any credit card links in this section!
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