There goes the government, creating another monopoly.
That's exactly the lesson to be learned. But the ObaMao voters will refuse to do so because they think their Messiah has a magic money printing machine which will go on endlessly.
Staples tried to buy Office Depot in 97 and got whacked by the FTC.
Wonder how the FTC will now be able to get around the logic used in 97 to stop that sale.
I generally visit Staples for toner cartridges and any small needed incidentals that can’t wait. The rest is Amazon.com or similar.
Because of the booming Obama economy, my employer told me Wednesday that I no longer had to come into to work.
The author entirely misses - does not discuss, MANY supplemental factors.
1. Are the items in a Staples, Office Depot or Office Max inventory sold ONLY at Staples, Office Depot and Office Max. No. Many other retailers have expanded their offerings, and inventory volume of, items traditionally found mostly at “office supply stores” and now offered by all sorts of retailers, and/or in larger volumes than before.
2. Did the office supply store industry move into retailing additional lines of business, like computers? Yes. Is the state of that and their place in it what they were when they were at their height? No. Most “computers” are not sold at one of the office supply stores and they have not supplemented that fact by grabbing a big chunk of wireless phone cell sales.
3. Two words - Internet retailing.
4. Paper and printing and everything related to them is a shrinking % of making, communicating and saving business and personal communications, and a substantial part of inventory for an “office supply” store.
Those factors question “the economy is bad” theme as the only logical reason for the merger.