Is This the Birth of a Monopoly?

NEW YORK (TheBlaze/AP) — You might soon only have one option when it comes to buying office supplies.

Staples is buying Office Depot in a cash-and-stock deal valued at nearly $6 billion.

Staples is buying competitor Office Depot for $6 billion, creating an office supply mega-chain. (Images via Mike Mozart and frankieleon/flickr)

The combined company will be an office supply mega-chain, with more than 2,000 retail stores in 57 countries generating approximately $17 billion in annual sales, Business Insider reported.

Office Depot Inc. shareholders will receive $7.25 in cash and 0.2188 of a share in Staples Inc. at closing. The deal values Office Depot at $11 per share. The companies put the transaction's value at $6.3 billion.

The deal is expected to close by year's end.

As the Wall Street Journal noted, the Staples deal is another step in what seems to be a convergence of office supply stores.

In 2013, Office Depot absorbed OfficeMax, and now with Staples poised to absorb both of its former competitors in one fell swoop, a Staples-Office Depot deal is sure to be scrutinized by antitrust regulators, the Journal cautioned.

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