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Less than a year after the Federal Trade Commission crushed its long attempted effort to merge with Office Depot Inc., Staples Inc. is considering selling the company.
People familiar with the matter said Staples is in talks with several private equity firms about possible bids, the Wall Street Journal reports. While it is entirely possible there will be no deal, typical takeover premiums could value the office-supplies retailer at $7B or more.
Experts said Staples and its competitors have been steadily losing chunks of the market to e-commerce retailers like Amazon, and Staples reported its fifth straight year of annual sales losses in 2016. Staples recently announced it will close another 70 stores while Office Depot plans to shutter 300 stores over the next three years.
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