New Zealand’s antitrust agency, the Commerce Commission, is seeking a court injunction to prevent U.S. private-equity firm Platinum Equity, which owns Staples, from acquiring OfficeMax Holdings. A press release from the Commerce Commission says it filed proceedings on November 2 in the High Court at Auckland seeking an injunction to prevent Platinum Equity from acquiring
Last September, after Office Depot sold its European business following its failed merger with Staples (see “Office Depot to Sell European Business, Staples Appoints New CEO” and “FTC Succeeds in Shutting Down Staples and Office Depot Merger”), the company put up a “for sale” sign on its stores in Australia and New Zealand. This week,
Boca Raton, FL-based Office Depot has named an executive at Lenovo Group to become its new chief executive officer (CEO). Gerry P. Smith, currently executive vice president and chief operating officer at Lenovo, will join Office Depot on February 27. Current Office Depot CEO Ronald Smith announced his retirement last August, after the company’s failed
Share prices yo-yoed while analyst speculation covered the map this week around the proposed merger of office-supplies giants Staples and Office Depot. On June 19, Staples announced that Office Depot shareholders had “overwhelmingly approved” the firm’s acquisition by Staples. On Tuesday, June 23, at nearly double its typical trading volume, Office Depot (ODP) shares rose
After Office Depot and OfficeMax recently announced plan to merge, we speculated that the deal spelled bad news for printer OEMs and aftermarket supplies companies currently doing business with one or both office superstores (see “Office Depot and OfficeMax to Merge”). However, at least one third-party supplies firm, Cartridge World, is looking to make hay
Well, it’s official. After years of will-they-won’t-they speculation about a possible merger between Office Depot and Office Max, the two office superstores announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement on February 20. Together, the number-two and number-three office superstores will create an $18 billion combined company with the goal of competing more effectively not
At the end of June, an OfficeMax customer filed a class-action lawsuit against the office superstore, claiming that OfficeMax’s policy is to refill cartridges only halfway with ink. OfficeMax’s in-store refilling stations use equipment from Phoenix Ink. The office superstore announced it would be offering inkjet refills at 900 of its stores using refilling equipment
Two weeks ago, we reported on the latest developments in a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by TonerHead, owner of the Ink-O-Dem cartridge-refilling system business, against many of its competitors in this business (see “TonerHead Inkjet Refilling Equipment Suit May Be Winding Down”). On October 11, TonerHead and the last two active defendants in the suit, Phoenix
In 2010, TonerHead, owner of the Ink-O-Dem cartridge-refilling system business, filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against a number of companies in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division (see “TonerHead Sparks Legal Fracas in the Retail Inkjet Refilling Equipment Business”). The original roster of defendants included inkjet refilling equipment vendors InkTec
Gap Intelligence recently published two interesting postings related to printer supplies on its “Mind the Gap” blog. First, the market intelligence firm compared and contrasted the cartridge-collection programs at Best Buy, Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Staples to see which retailer offers the best deal for empties. Second, Gap Intelligence says circular advertising for ink supplies
