The Federal Trade Commission has taken the first step toward blocking the proposed $6.3 billion merger of Staples and Office Depot, saying the deal would hurt competition in the market for office supplies sold to large corporations. They made the complaint that the merge violated antitrust laws. "The Commission has reason to believe that the proposed merger between Staples and Office Depot is likely to eliminate beneficial competition that large companies rely on to reduce the costs of office supplies," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. The FTC has blocked the merge of these companies since 1997. The companies have released a joint statement saying that they think the FTC vision of the market is "based on a flawed analysis and misunderstanding of the intensely competitive landscape in which Staples and Office Depot operate." The Canadian Competition Bureau has also sued to block the merger.
I don't think that there would be a problem with these two companies merging, because of the recent competition that they have had with online services such as Amazon and other buy in bulk stores like Sam's and Costco's. I believe that this merge would result in less competition in the office supplies market. This disagreement is like the Civil War, since there is a group fighting to be together (the Union/the companies) and a group fighting for them to be separate (the Confederacy/the FTC.) Find more about what the FTC is trying to do
here.
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