Office Depot is one of the leading global suppliers of office merchandise, including computers, office furniture, business machines, computer software, etc. The corporation also offers multiple services, like printing, copying, shipping, computer repair, document reproduction and so on.

The company processes sales through its Office Depot locations, office supply stores, internet websites, call centers, telephone management, catalogs, etc.

Office Depot products are sold under different private brands: Office Depot, RealSpace, Office Depot Green, TUG, and RealSpace Pro.

Office Depot is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the index ODP. It is a Standard and Poor’s 500 company. Its headquarters are situated in Boca Raton, Florida.

Office Depot Inc. is divided into three main business sections: North American Business Solutions, North American Retail and International segments.

Landmarks in the History of Office Depot

Below one can review the main events in the history of Office Depot Corporation.

• March, 1986 – F. Patrick Sher, Dougherty and Jack Kopkin establish Office Depot. The first one becomes CEO and chairman, the second one takes position of president, and the third one works as vice president.
• October, 1986 - Office Depot launches the first store in Lauderdale Lakes.
• 1988 - Office Depot goes public.
• 1991 – The company merges with the Office Club.
• 1992 - Office Depot purchases Great Canadian Office Supplies.
• 1993 – It acquires Eastman Office Products and Wilson Stationery and Printing Company.
• 1994 - Office Depot comes into an alliance with Grupo Gigante (Mexico) and signs agreements with Colombia, Poland and Israel.
• 1995 – There are five hundred Office Depot locations in North Arerica.
• 1996 - Office Depot starts its B2B electronic commerce website.
• 1997 – The company operates 45 Office Depot locations in other countries.
• 1998 – OfficeDepot.com starts working in the Internet.
• 1999 - Viking-Direct.co.uk, the 1st Office Depot international website, is launched.
• 1999 - Office Depot is listed on S&P 500 Index.
• 2000 - Office Depot sets up European Business Services department.
• 2003 – The company purchases Guilbert, S.A., thus doubling its European business.
• 2004 – The “Green Book” catalog is introduced.
• 2005 – The company opens its 1000th Office Depot location in the North America.
• 2006 - Office Depot acquires Allied Office Products, Best Office Co., AsiaEc, and Papirius s.r.o.
• 2007 – The corporation establishes the first Office Depot location in Puerto Rico. Later it opens its office in Shenzhen, China.
• 2008 - Office Depot introduces a new product line named “Office Depot Green”.
• 2009 - Office Depot opens the first location in Kuwait.
• 2009 – BC Partners acquire Office Depot.
• 2011 - Office Depot locations start working in Dominican Republic.
• 2012 – The company comes into an alliance with Born This Way Foundation.

Office Depot Today

Neil Austrian is CEO and chairman of Office Depot and Steve Schmidt is president of the company.

Office Depot’s annual revenue in 2009 exceeded , 1 billion and it has over 42,000 regular employees.

In 2010, the company sold over .5 billion of merchandise and services to private customers and businesses through its three main segments: North American Business Solutions, North American Retail and International Division.

As of 2011, Office Depot Company owns about 1,650 locations.

Annually, the official website of Office Depot, OfficeDepot.com has about forty million visitors from the Unites States and many other countries.