The momentum toward getting these two office supplies companies together is ongoing, but that doesn’t mean it’s going anywhere. A month after buying Staples in 2017, for example, Sycamore was said to be mulling a sale of the retail business to Office Depot.
The Federal Trade Commission also moved against a proposed merger between the two in 1997.
In the years since their merger hopes were dashed for the second time, both Staples and Office Depot have grown their business-to-business operations, although Staples later split apart its business-to-business and retail operations.
Source: Retail Dive