Office Depot Takes Over OfficeMax to Take on Staples, Amazon (Update1)

(Includes statement announcing terms of deal, updates stock prices.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Office Depot(ODP) said it would merge with competitor OfficeMax(OMX) in a press release, a move that may shore up the earnings of both companies and put them in closer running with Staples(SPLS) , the leading office supplier in the U.S.

Still, the status of the deal and its terms were in doubt for about an hour on Wednesday morning.

Office Depot removed the press release, which stated the terms of the merger at the end of a discussion of earnings. The New York Times reported the company prematurely put up the press release and was still finalizing the deal.

According to the release initially posted on Office Depot's Web site, the company will be acquiring competitor OfficeMax in an all-stock transaction that values OfficeMax at about $13.50 a share as of Tuesday's close.

OfficeMax stockholders will receive 2.69 Office Depot common shares for each OfficeMax share, the press release states. "Combining our two companies will enhance our ability to serve customers around the world, offer new opportunities for our employees, make us a more attractive partner to our vendors, and increase stockholder value," Neil Austrian, Office Depot's CEO, said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Baker said that while OfficeMax was the more likely acquirer given its size, an Office Depot acquisition of the company might create more value for investors.

"Although we think the more likely deal is OfficeMax buying Office Depot, if ODP were to buy OMX in an all-stock deal, it would be more accretive," Baker wrote in a client note that highlighted a possible 30-cent earnings-per-share boost for Office Depot, the healthier of the two companies financially.