While Staples is now ubiquitous with the purchasing of all sorts of office supplies, this was not always the case. In fact, Staples was founded in 1985 by former retail rivals Leo Kahn and Thomas Stemberg, who were both disillusioned with the local office supply format. The entrepreneurs determined that a franchise of superstores had to be established to satiate the needs of the offices of the great nation of the United States... and Canada. Yes, a mere five years after the initial creation of the chain, a Canadian subsidiary, at the time called The Business Depot (no to be confused with the shameless Staples clone Office Depot). Staples quickly accumulated success, despite the attempts to rival Office Depot. Over the course of the companies' histories, merger attempts were made. The first, attempted in 1996, was to be a standard, classical merger, in which neither company would bear authority over the other. This movement was blocked by the Free Trade Commission, which ruled that the movement would create a monopoly or oligopoly. The second, conceptualized in 2013, was to the full acquisition of Office Depot by the now much larger Staples. This movement was too blocked, but instead due to the immense stock exchanges that it would necessitate.
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AuthorNick Pinkerton is a cat loving, salad eating high schooler. Also, he bakes! Click to access my full bio. Archives
March 2016
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