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 $14 billion, and employs about 66,000 associates with businesses in 59 countries. The company operates 2,200 retail stores, e-commerce sites and a business-to-business sales organization.
The company's portfolio of brands includes Office Depot, OfficeMax, Grand & Toy, Viking Direct, Ativa, TUL, Foray, Realspace, and DiVOGA.
Video Office Depot
History
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.
The company announced its initial public offering of stock and went public in 1988. In 1991, it merged with Office Club, which provided an expansion to the West Coast.
Office Depot entered the European and Australian direct mail market after acquiring Viking Direct in 1998. In 2002, Viking Direct expanded to Central America with new retail stores in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica through a joint licensing agreement.
Merger and proposed acquisition
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. The merger was completed on November 5, 2013.
In 2014, Office Depot announced the closure of 400 stores due to declining sales and customer migration to e-retailers.
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. 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.
In 2017, Gerry Smith was named as the company's new CEO, effective February 27. Smith was the chief operating officer at Lenovo Group.
Environmental initiatives
Office Depot reduced its electricity and absolute carbon-dioxide emissions from North American facilities by over 10% in 2006 after a $20 million investment in energy efficiency initiatives.
Office Depot built a LEED Gold-certified retail store in Austin, Texas, in April 2008. The Boca Raton headquarters was also awarded LEED Gold certification in September 2010.
Maps Office Depot
Sponsorships
In January 2005, Office Depot became a partner of NASCAR, with the title "Official Office Products Partner of NASCAR". 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. In September 2012, Office Depot announced it would not renew sponsorship with Tony Stewart or Stewart-Haas Racing.
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.
See also
- Viking Direct
- Staples Inc.
- OfficeMax
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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