Staples Complicates Office Depot-OfficeMax Merger

A proposed merger between office supply retailers Office Depot Inc. (Boca Raton, Fla.) and OfficeMax Inc. (Naperville, Ill.) could be complicated by the recent announcement by Staples Inc. (Framingham, Mass.) to match all Amazon.com prices.

The two retailers, seeking to complete their $1.2 billion merger by the end of the year, have said they both completed answers to a set of questions from the Federal Trade Commission.

But industry leader Staples may have added some complications to the merger with its announcement that it would match prices of Amazon, its top online competitor, beginning November 3 both in stores and online.

According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, if Office Depot and OfficeMax announce that they too will lower their prices, it could be considered anti-competitive behavior toward Staples, the tricky line both companies are seeking to avoid. And if they don’t match prices, their holiday sales will almost certainly be affected.

An Office Depot spokesman responded “no comment” when asked if its stores would follow Staples’ lead. OfficeMax didn't respond to the newspaper’s inquires.