Office Depot Turns Down Staples’ Acquisition Offer Again

Office Depot reported earlier this week that it had rejected a bid from Staples to acquire  Office Depot and OfficeMax assets, stating that the offer lacked basic terms, including a purchase price.

In January 2021, Office Depot had rejected Staples’ approximate $2 billion buyout offer. Staples is owned by private-equity firm Sycamore Partners. Instead, Office Depot proposed merging the companies’ consumer-focused operations in order to avoid government regulatory scrutiny.

Staples had also sought to acquire Office Depot in 1996 and in 2016, with a U.S. court blocking the acquisition in 2016.

Staples is seeking to acquire Office Depot’s retail and consumer-focused operations.

In a letter to USR Parent Inc, the Sycamore-affiliated owner of Staples, Office Depot Chairman Vassalluzzo wrote: “The board … has determined that ODP, in the best interest of its shareholders, cannot agree to such a proposal.”

Vassalluzzo said Office Depot would continue to focus on its B2B strategy. The Office Depot chairman also said Office Depot is still  open to combining our retail and consumer-facing ecommerce operations with Staples under the right set of circumstances.”

More Resources

• January 2021: Office Depot Rejects Staples’ Buyout Offer, Proposes Alternatives
• January 2021: Staples Trying – Again – to Purchase Office Depot