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The ODP Corporation is an American
office supply Office supplies are consumables and equipment regularly used in offices by businesses and other organizations, by individuals engaged in written communications, recordkeeping or bookkeeping, janitorial and cleaning, and for storage of supplies ...
holding company headquartered in
Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...
. The company has combined annual sales of approximately $11 billion, and employs about 38,000 associates with businesses in the United States. The company operates 1,400 retail stores, e-commerce sites and a
business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when: * A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...
sales organization. The company's portfolio of brands includes Office Depot,
OfficeMax OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. It is now a subsidiary of The ODP Corporation, which is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. As of December 2012, OfficeMax operated 941 stores in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S ...
, Grand & Toy, ODP Business Solutions, Ativa, TUL, Foray, Realspace, and DiVOGA.


History

Office Depot was founded in by F. Patrick Sher, Stephen Doughtery, and Jack Kopkin, who became the company's chairman and chief executive officer, the president, and executive vice president respectively. All three were formerly associated with Mr. HOW Warehouse, a home improvement company that Sher sold to
Service Merchandise Service Merchandise was a retail chain of catalog showrooms carrying jewelry, toys, sporting goods, and electronics. The company, which first began in 1934 as a five-and-dime store, was in existence for 68 years before ceasing operations in 2002. ...
in 1983. The first store, located at the
Lakes Mall Lakes Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. Opened in 1972, the shopping center initially featured Jefferson Ward and Britt's discount stores, and later included the first locations for the retail chains Office Depot a ...
in
Lauderdale Lakes, Florida Lauderdale Lakes, officially the City of Lauderdale Lakes, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 35,954. It is part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach Metr ...
, opened in October 1986. The company announced its
initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
of stock, and went public in December 1988.


Mergers and acquisitions

In April 1991, it merged with Office Club, which provided an expansion to the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
. In 1995, Office Depot entered the Mexican marketplace in a joint venture with
Grupo Gigante Grupo Gigante is a holding company, holding listed at Mexican Stock Exchange founded in 1962, enterprises includes: Office Depot, The Home Store, SuperPrecio and Toks. The Supermercados Gigante, namesake hypermarkets and supermarkets are sold i ...
, making it the retailer's first international expansion. Office Depot then entered the European and Australian direct mail market, after acquiring
Viking Direct Viking Direct, trading as Viking, is an office supply mail order catalogue company based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Office Depot Europe. It is headquartered in Leicester, United Kingdom. Founded in 1960 in Los Angeles, California, ...
in May 1998. On July 18, 1997, the
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
(FTC) reported that a federal district court in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
granted their request for a preliminary injunction, blocking Office Depot and Staples from merging as one company. In December 2001, Viking Direct expanded to Central America with new retail stores in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica through a joint licensing agreement. Office Depot sold Office Depot Europe (Viking Direct's parent) to an investment firm in September 2017. On February 20, 2013, it was announced that Office Depot and
OfficeMax OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. It is now a subsidiary of The ODP Corporation, which is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. As of December 2012, OfficeMax operated 941 stores in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S ...
would combine in an all-stock deal, pending regulatory approval and stockholder approval. The merger was completed on November 5, 2013. In May 2014, Office Depot announced the closure of four hundred stores, due to declining sales and customer migration to e-retailers. 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, the
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
voted to block the merger in December 2015. The
United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District of ...
granted the FTC a preliminary injunction against the merger on May 10, 2016, resulting in the proposed merger's termination. In January 2017, Gerry Smith was named as the company's new CEO, effective February 27. Smith was the chief operating officer at
Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, Personal computer, personal computers, ...
Group. Office Depot bought technology services firm
CompuCom CompuCom Systems Inc. is a technology managed services provider and product reseller headquartered in Indian Land, South Carolina, a southern suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Variant Equity Advisors. In b ...
in 2017 to help it compete with
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
, warning investors at the time that the acquisition would show disappointing revenue in the quarter whose earnings would be reported in May 2019. Shares dropped significantly in early April 2019 as a result.


Environmental initiatives

Office Depot built a LEED Gold certified retail store in
Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, in April 2008. The Boca Raton headquarters was also awarded a LEED Gold certification in September 2010.


Sponsorships

In January 2005, Office Depot became a partner of
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
, with the title "Official Office Products Partner of NASCAR". In the same year, the company signed on as the primary sponsor of the #99 Ford Fusion, owned by
Roush Fenway Racing Roush is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Politics *Glenn Roush (1934–2020), American politician in Montana *J. Edward Roush (1920–2004), United States Representative for Indiana, namesake of: ** J. Edward Roush Lake, a rese ...
and previously driven by
Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. 9 ...
. They sponsored Edwards until the end of the 2008
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
season. In December 2008, Office Depot announced that it would become the co primary sponsor for
Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...
and the No. 14
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
at
Stewart-Haas Racing Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champio ...
in 2009. In September 2012, Office Depot announced it would not renew sponsorship with Tony Stewart or Stewart-Haas Racing. In November 2012, Office Depot partnered with the Born This Way Foundation to sell limited edition office supplies and give 25% of earnings to the organization.


FTC settlement

In March 2019, Office Depot and Support.com, Inc., a California-based tech support software provider, agreed to pay a total of $35 million to settle
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
allegations that the companies tricked customers into buying millions of dollars' worth of computer repair and technical services by deceptively claiming their software had found malware symptoms on the customers' computers.


Gallery

File:Thornhill Office Depot at Steeles, May 2011 - panoramio.jpg, An Office Depot store in
Markham, Ontario Markham () is a city in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in York Region, fourth largest ...
. Due to continued profitability issues, this store began a liquidation sale in 2011 and was closed several days later. File:Officedepot916.jpg, Office Depot location in
Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...
(now closed)


See also

*
Staples Inc. Staples Inc. is an American retail company headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts, that offers products and services designed to support working and learning. The company opened its first store in Brighton, Massachusetts on May 1, 1986. By ...
*
OfficeMax OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. It is now a subsidiary of The ODP Corporation, which is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. As of December 2012, OfficeMax operated 941 stores in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ODP Corporation 1980s initial public offerings 1986 establishments in Florida American companies established in 1986 Companies based in Boca Raton, Florida Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Nasdaq Office supply retailers of the United States Retail companies established in 1986