FTC: Courts will approve Staples/Office Depot Merger

May 28, 1997

According to highly regarded anti-trust lawyers, there was no basis for the FTC action blocking the merger between Staples and Office Depot. In fact, some key FTC senior administrators have carefully distanced themselves from the litigation.  Based on currently accepted antitrust theory and the FTC’s own guidelines, the merger should be permitted. Verdict expects the Federal Court to reverse the FTC and approve the merger.  If Verdict is wrong and the Court ratifies the FTC’s rejection of the merger, then an entirely new era of merger law is dawning with a new set of undefined rules.