There is a lot of talk on the web about the merger, and how it nay not happen. had anyone heard anything?
3 replies (most recent on top)
The merger, should it happen, will slow the bleeding both companies are currently experiencing as separate entities. The real question is what happens a few years down the road post-merger when mirroring retail store locations have been closed, leases have been terminated and retail store sizes have been shrunk to more manageable square footage, employee rolls have been trimmed as tightly as they can and both companies have physically and systematically been rolled into one. Okay, THEN what? Merging and mass-scale austerity measures alone won't stave off the chunks of profit Walmart, Amazon, local grocery stores and pharmacies have carved away from both business over the years. Now you'll have one large company having a monopoly over a shrinking business model instead of two smaller companies. Maybe 'Staples Depot' can cut a deal with Amazon and Walmart to sell their products for them online and in Walmart stores: you'll be left with the Staples Depot logo, and the businesses themselves in terms of tangible real estate assets will go the way of the dinosaur. Or maybe not. Who knows? There certainly doesn't seem to be any real strategy or broad plan for the future in place, nothing other than reactive panic from management.
The merger was terminated between Sysco and US Foods. Seeing how the FTC ruled on this could have made Staples and Office Depot part ways. I guess they will continue to drive each other out.
There was talk that Staples and Office Depot was monitoring another merger to see how the FTC would react. One of the companies was Sysco foods. They provide food for school lunches. FTC was considering voting against this merger because of the monopoly it would create. The article I read said that Staples and Office Depot might get cold feet upon seeing this action from the FTC.