Atlas Holdings has closed its $1 billion acquisition of The ODP Corporation, taking the Office Depot and OfficeMax parent private and appointing Craig Gunckel as chief executive to lead a turnaround of its retail and business-to-business divisions.
Gunckel succeeds Gerry P. Smith and will oversee approximately 16,000 employees across Office Depot and OfficeMax stores in the United States and Canada, ODP’s e-commerce operations, and ODP Business Solutions, which serves commercial and institutional customers. ODP’s shares have been delisted from Nasdaq following the closing.
Executives said private ownership is intended to remove quarterly reporting pressures and give leadership more flexibility to streamline operations, invest in digital procurement and fulfillment, and assess non-core assets after years of declining demand for traditional office products and mounting competition from Amazon Business, Staples and regional independents.
“We are refocusing on our two core businesses, Office Depot OfficeMax and ODP Business Solutions,” Gunckel said. “With Atlas as our long-term partner, we’ll apply greater discipline to how we operate and prioritize sustainable, profitable growth.”
Atlas positioned the deal as a platform for restructuring and margin recovery, particularly inside the B2B distribution arm, which faces shifting buyer behavior as corporate purchasing migrates to marketplace platforms and integrated procurement systems.
“This begins a new era with the autonomy to execute a strategy that will enable each to compete and win in their respective markets,” said Michael Sher, managing partner at Atlas.
Industry analysts say the transaction could accelerate decisions that stalled under public ownership, including footprint rationalization, portfolio adjustments and potential divestitures, as ODP seeks to define a competitive offering beyond traditional office supplies.
The buyout received shareholder approval Dec. 5 and cleared regulatory review. J.P. Morgan Securities advised ODP; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel. Lazard advised Atlas, with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP as counsel.
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