Office Depot

Office Depot, Inc. is an American office supply retailing company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The company has combined annual sales of approximately $11 billion, and employs about 38,000 associates with businesses in the United States. The company operates 1,400 retail stores,[4] e-commerce sites and a business-to-business sales organization.

Office Depot, Inc.
Public
Traded as
ISINUS6762201068 
IndustrySpecialty retail
FoundedOctober 1986 (1986-10)
FounderF. Patrick Sher
Headquarters
Boca Raton, Florida
,
United States
Number of locations
1,378 (December 2017)[1]
Area served
North America
Europe
Key people
ProductsOffice supplies, Technology, Furniture, Copy & Print, Shipping Services
BrandsOffice Depot, OfficeMax, Grand & Toy, Ativa, TUL, Foray, Realspace, DiVOGA
Revenue US$10.240 billion (2017)[1]
US$341 million (2017)[1]
US$181 million (2017)[1]
Total assets US$6.323 billion (2017)[1]
Total equity US$2.120 billion (2017)[1]
Number of employees
~38,000 (July 2018)[3]
SubsidiariesOfficeMax
Grand & Toy
CompuCom
Websiteofficedepot.com

The company's portfolio of brands includes Office Depot, OfficeMax, Grand & Toy, Ativa, TUL, Foray, Realspace, and DiVOGA.[5]

History
Office Depot storefront in East Palo Alto, California

Office Depot was founded in October 1986 by F. Patrick Sher, Stephen Doughtery, and Jack Kopkin, who became the company's chairman and chief executive officer, the president, and executive vice president respectively.

All three were formerly associated with Mr. HOW Warehouse, a home improvement company that Sher sold to Service Merchandise in 1983. The first store, located at the Lakes Mall in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, opened in October 1986.[6] The company announced its initial public offering of stock, and went public in December 1988.[7][8]

Office Depot interior in Gillette, Wyoming

Mergers and acquisitions

In April 1991, it merged with Office Club, which provided an expansion to the West Coast.[9] Office Depot entered the European and Australian direct mail market, after acquiring Viking Direct in May 1998.

On July 18, 1997, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that a federal district court in Washington, D.C. granted their request for a preliminary injunction, blocking Office Depot and Staples from merging as one company.[10]

In December 2001, Viking Direct expanded to Central America with new retail stores in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica through a joint licensing agreement.[11] Office Depot sold Office Depot Europe (Viking Direct's parent) to an investment firm in September 2017.[12]

On February 20, 2013, it was announced that Office Depot and OfficeMax would combine in an all stock deal, pending regulatory approval and stockholder approval.[13] The merger was completed on November 5, 2013.[14][15] In May 2014, Office Depot announced the closure of four hundred stores, due to declining sales and customer migration to e-retailers.[16]

On February 4, 2015, it was announced that rival Staples had agreed to purchase Office Depot, in a cash and stock deal worth approximately $6.3 billion. However, the Federal Trade Commission voted to block the merger in December 2015.[17][18] The United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted the FTC a preliminary injunction against the merger on May 10, 2016, resulting in the proposed merger's termination.[19]

In January 2017, Gerry Smith was named as the company's new CEO, effective February 27. Smith was the chief operating officer at Lenovo Group.[20][21]

Office Depot bought technology services firm CompuCom in 2017 to help it compete with Amazon Web Services, warning investors at the time that the acquisition would show disappointing revenue in the quarter whose earnings would be reported in May 2019. Shares dropped significantly in early April 2019 as a result.[22]

Environmental initiatives
Office Depot's first "green" store in Austin, Texas

Office Depot built a LEED Gold certified retail store in Austin, Texas, in April 2008.[23] The Boca Raton headquarters was also awarded LEED Gold certification in September 2010.[24]

Sponsorships

In January 2005, Office Depot became a partner of NASCAR, with the title "Official Office Products Partner of NASCAR".[25][26] In the same year, the company signed on as the primary sponsor of the #99 Ford Fusion, owned by Roush Fenway Racing and previously driven by Carl Edwards. They sponsored Edwards until the end of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

In December 2008, Office Depot announced that it would become the co primary sponsor for Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Chevrolet at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009.[27] In September 2012, Office Depot announced it would not renew sponsorship with Tony Stewart or Stewart-Haas Racing.[28]

In November 2012, Office Depot partnered with the Born This Way Foundation to sell limited edition office supplies and give 25% of earnings to the organization.[29][30]

FTC settlement

In March 2019, Office Depot and Support.com, Inc., a California-based tech support software provider, agreed to pay a total of $35 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the companies tricked customers into buying millions of dollars' worth of computer repair and technical services by deceptively claiming their software had found malware symptoms on the customers' computers.[31]

See also

References
  1. "Office Depot, Inc. 2017 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". sec.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 2018.
  2. "Office Depot, Inc. Announces Appointment of New Chief Financial Officer" (Press release). Office Depot. January 3, 2018. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  3. "Tearsheet". Office Depot. July 17, 2018. Archived from the original on June 6, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  4. "Office Depot". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  5. Reyes, Robin (17 March 2016). "Office Depot Adds More Than 4% – Amazon Eyeing Office Depot's Corporate Business, Which Could Help Clear Staples Merger". Sonoran Weekly Review. Archived from the original on 3 May 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  6. Gale, Kevin. "1986 Flashback: The birth of Office Depot in Lauderdale Lakes Mall". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved 2017-04-10.
  7. "BRIEFS". The New York Times. 1988-12-15. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  8. Cheng, Evelyn (2016-05-11). "Dow closes down more than 200 points; retail plunges, posts worst day since 2011". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  9. "Office Club merger into Office Depot completed". UPI. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  10. Baker, Jonathan (July 18, 1997). "Econometric Analysis in FTC v. Staples". Federal Trade Commission. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  11. "Viking Direct Enters Spanish E-Commerce and Catalog Market". DMN. 2001-12-13. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
  12. McLoughlin, Gavin (September 3, 2017). "Up to 100 staff to lose jobs at Viking Direct". independent.ie. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  13. "Office Depot, OfficeMax to Merge to Compete With Staples". Bloomberg. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  14. Dhanya Skariachan (5 November 2013). "Office Depot closes deal to buy OfficeMax". Reuters.
  15. "Office Depot and OfficeMax Complete Merger". news.officedepot.com/. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  16. "Office Depot to close 400 US stores, posts loss". CNBC. 2014-05-06. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
  17. Kosman, Josh. "FTC votes to block Staples merger with Office Depot". New York Post. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  18. Kosman, Josh. "FTC has no interest in allowing Staples' acquisition of Office Depot/". New York Post. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  19. Bartz, Diane. "Staples, Office Depot scrap merger deal after judge rules for FTC". Reuters. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  20. Kilgore, Tomi. "Office Depot names Gerry Smith as new CEO". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2017-01-30.
  21. Pounds, Marcia Heroux. "Office Depot names Lenovo executive Gerry Smith new CEO". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved 2017-01-30.
  22. Marino, Jon (May 7, 2019). "Office Depot needs to reverse these trends to compete with Amazon Business". Thinknum. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  23. "Office Depot receives LEED Gold Certification". Green Momentum. January 19, 2009. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  24. "Office Depot's Florida HQ gets LEED-Gold certification". World Interior Design Network. September 30, 2010. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  25. "Power - NASCARPartners". nascarpartners.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  26. "Office Depot Inks Deal to Be Official NASCAR(R) Partner | Office Depot Online Newsroom". news.officedepot.com. Archived from the original on 2018-09-09. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
  27. "Sponsors 2009". stewart-hass-racing.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  28. "Tony Stewart loses Office Depot as primary sponsor". USA Today. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  29. "Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation Partners With Office Depot - ARTISTdirect News". Artistdirect.com. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  30. "MTV Style | Born This Way Foundation Sells Bravery Bracelets At Office Depot". Style.mtv.com. 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  31. "Office Depot and Tech Support Firm Will Pay $35 Million to Settle FTC Allegations That They Tricked Consumers into Buying Costly Computer Repair Services" (Press release). Federal Trade Commission. March 27, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
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