Office Depot, Inc. and OfficeMax Incorporated today announced the preliminary results of their respective special meetings of stockholders held earlier this morning. OfficeMax stockholders voted to approve the merger and adopt the Agreement and Plan of Merger withOffice Depot. Office Depot stockholders voted to approve the issuance of shares of Office Depot common stock to OfficeMaxstockholders pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger.

“We are very pleased with this endorsement of our proposed merger with Office Depot by our OfficeMax stockholders,” saidRavi Saligram, President and CEO of OfficeMax. “This is an important and historic milestone in bringing our two great companies together. With integration planning now well underway, we believe more than ever that the combined company will create a stronger, more innovative and efficient global provider better able to compete in today’s rapidly changing office solutions industry, creating long-term value and opportunity for our customers, our stockholders and our employees.”

“Our Office Depot shareholders today endorsed our collective efforts to create a combined company that will be a world-class provider of office products, services and solutions, with significantly improved financial strength and the ability to deliver better long-term operating performance,” said Neil Austrian, Chairman and CEO of Office Depot. “Our two companies remain optimistic that the closing will occur by the end of the calendar year 2013, subject to the receipt of regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions; and we continue to work cooperatively with the FTC as it conducts its review of the proposed combination.”