Cut the cake and cue the band: Office Depot Inc. and OfficeMax Inc. today announced the completion of their merger.
The new company, called Office Depot, had combined 2012 web sales of $7.26 billion, according to estimated sales figures in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. By comparison, the merged company’s main rival, Staples Inc., No. 2 in that guide after Amazon.com Inc., generated 2012 web sales of $10.3 billion.
The combined company would have had total revenue of $17 billion for the year ended Sept. 30, Office Depot says. Office Depot holds the No. 7 spot in the Top 500, while OfficeMax ranks at No. 11.
The company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP. Office Depot chairman and CEO Neil Austrian and OfficeMax president and CEO Ravi Saligram, become co-CEOs of the merged company as a search proceeds for a single executive. Office Depot will operate from Boca Raton, FL and Naperville, IL.
“Total estimated annual cost synergies by the end of the third year following the close of the merger are now expected to be in the upper half of the previously estimated $400-$600 million range,” Office Depot says in a statement. “This excludes any potential synergies from approximately $2 billion of other operating expenses related to retail stores that have not yet been evaluated, as well as any potential working capital savings that may result from vendor or supply chain facility consolidation.”