OfficeMax (OMX, Fortune 500) shares rallied 30%, while shares of Office Depot (ODP, Fortune 500), the larger of the two, surged 24%.
Office Depot has 1,262 stores worldwide, 39,000 employees, and 2011 sales of $11.5 billion, the last full year for which it has reported results.
Office Max has 978 stores, 29,000 employees and 2011 sales of $7.1 billion.
The talks come as mergers and acquisitions have picked up.
Just last week, US Airways (LCC, Fortune 500) announced a merger with American Airlines parent AMR (AAMRQ, Fortune 500), Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, Fortune 500) announced it was buying Heinz (HNZ, Fortune 500), and Comcas (CMCSA)t announced a $16.7 billion deal for the 49% of NBC Universal that was still owned by General Electri (GE, Fortune 500)c.
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Both Office Depot and OfficeMax are dwarfed by Staples (SPLS, Fortune 500), which operates 2,248 stores worldwide and had 2011 sales of $25 billion. Staples has also face increased competition from online retailers, such as Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500). Staples shares were also up nearly 14% in early trading.
The merger talks were widely reported Monday, when U.S. markets were closed for a holiday. 
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 15,387.58 | 52.30 | 0.34% |
| Nasdaq | 3,502.12 | 5.69 | 0.16% |
| S&P 500 | 1,669.16 | 0.00 | 0.00% |
| Treasuries | 1.94 | -0.02 | -1.07% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 13.44 | -0.07 | -0.52% |
| Ford Motor Co | 14.96 | -0.10 | -0.66% |
| Microsoft Corp | 34.85 | -0.23 | -0.66% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 24.01 | 0.06 | 0.27% |
| Merck & Co Inc | 47.33 | 2.12 | 4.69% |
| Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 yr fixed | 3.65% | 3.65% | |
| 15 yr fixed | 2.80% | 2.78% | |
| 5/1 ARM | 2.59% | 2.60% | |
| 30 yr refi | 3.64% | 3.63% | |
| 15 yr refi | 2.79% | 2.78% |
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