Office Depot, Inc. is an American office supply retailing company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, United States of America. 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.
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History
Office Depot was founded in October 1986 by F. Patrick Sher, the former chairman and chief executive officer; Stephen Dougherty, the president; and Jack Kopkin, the executive vice president. All three were formerly associated with Mr. HOW Warehouse, a home improvement company that Sher sold to Service Merchandise in 1983. The company opened its first store at Lakes Mall in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida in October 1986.
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. On November 5, 2013, the merger was completed.
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, in December 2015, the Federal Trade Commission voted to block the merger. On May 10, 2016, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted the FTC a preliminary injunction against the merger. After the ruling, Office Depot and Staples announced termination of their proposed merger.
Other events and milestones
This is a list of other events and milestones that have to do with Office Depot, Inc.
- 1988 - Initial public offering of stock.
- 1991 - Expands to the West Coast of the United States by merging with Office Club.
- 1992 - Increases operations in North America by acquiring The Great Canadian Office Supplies Warehouse Chain.
- 1993 - Enters contract stationer business by acquiring Wilson Stationery & Printing Company and Eastman Office Products Corporation.
- 1998 - Enters European and Australian direct mail operations by acquiring Viking Direct
- 2001 - Acquires 4sure.com.
- 2002 - Begins Viking Direct catalog/direct mail operations in Switzerland, Spain and Portugal; expands into Central America with new retail stores in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica through a joint licensing agreement.
- 2003 - Doubles European business with acquisition of Guilbert, S.A.; becomes the first office supply superstore to offer fully functional and comprehensive Spanish website.
- 2004
- Introduces "Green Book" catalog of environmentally preferable products, as well as the first free, nationwide in-store electronics recycling program and free, in-store cell phone and rechargeable battery recycling program in all stores in the U.S. and Canada.
- 2005
- Names Steve Odland Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
- 2013 - OfficeMax begins negotiations with Office Depot to engage in a "merger of equals".
- 2014
- Announced that it will close 400 stores due to declining sales and customer migration to e-retailers.
- Office Depot and OfficeMax merged and started combining.
- 2015 - The Federal Trade Commission voted to block the merger with Staples.
- 2017 - Gerry Smith was named as chief executive officer (CEO), effective February 27. Smith succeeded former Chief Executive Roland Smith, who announced his plan to retire in August 2016. Smith was the chief operating officer at the technology company Lenovo Group.
Environmental programs
Office Depot has structured its environmental strategy around three concepts: Buying Green, Being Green, and Selling Green. Initiatives supporting this strategy include the following below:
Buying Green
- By investing more than $20 million in energy efficiency initiatives in 2005, Office Depot reduced its electricity and absolute carbon-dioxide emissions from North American facilities by over 10% in 2006.
Being Green
- In 2008, Office Depot created a dedicated brand of green office products: Office Depot Green, and built the world's first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified retail store prototype in Austin, TX. The store obtained LEED Gold certification from the US Green Building Council (USGBC). That same year, Office Depot won the BSI British Standards award for Innovation. These awards are open to any UK organization certified to ISO 14001, which is the world's only international environmental management system standard.
- In Europe, Office Depot's UK Headquarters is a green building, having achieved a BREEAM "Very Good" Rating.
- In 2010, Office Depot's Headquarters in Boca Raton, FL was awarded LEED Gold certification from the US Green Building Council for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance.
Selling Green
- Office Depot offers more than 6,500 products with environmental attributes and certifications.
- Office Depot offers numerous green solutions for its customers, including The Green Book, Greener Office website, Ink and Toner Cartridge Recycling Program and a Tech Recycling Service.
Sponsorships
In 2005, Office Depot became known as the "Official Office Products Partner of NASCAR", a title that the company continues to hold to this day. Also in 2005, Office Depot 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 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 2012, Office Depot partnered with the Born This Way Foundation, which was started by Lady Gaga to sell limited edition office supplies and give 25% (1/4) of the money earned to the organization.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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