NEW YORK & BOCA RATON, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Office Depot, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODP), a leading B2B integrated distribution
company providing business services and supplies, products and
technology solutions, and Alibaba.com, one of the world’s largest B2B
trading platforms and an Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) business unit, today
announced a strategic collaboration. The goal of this collaboration is
to empower U.S. small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to grow by
tapping into the global B2B e-commerce marketplace, which was most
recently valued at $23.9 trillion by the U.S.
International Trade Commission.

This collaboration will leverage the companies’ respective strengths to
serve U.S. SMBs, including Office Depot’s deep relationships with more
than 10 million U.S. business customers, a dedicated sales force of
approximately 1,800 sales professionals, a marketing demand engine that
drives more than 450 million combined store, mobile and website visits
annually, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the U.S., a robust
supply chain network that can reach nearly 99% of U.S. businesses with
next day delivery, and approximately 1,350 Office Depot and OfficeMax
retail locations. Alibaba.com will bring its global network of over
150,000 suppliers, a vast catalog of product listings and manufacturing
capabilities, and an end-to-end technology platform that provides SMBs
with a range of tools and services to grow their businesses.

The collaboration will focus on several key areas expected to provide
U.S. entrepreneurs and business owners access to a single online
destination to access one of the world’s largest catalogues of goods and
services across all product categories. During the initial launch
period, the focus is on the following areas:

• A new co-branded online destination, “Office Depot on Alibaba.com”:
  Office Depot and Alibaba.com have launched a new online destination, www.alibaba.com/officedepot,
  that provides U.S. SMBs access to Alibaba.com’s global supplier
  network, offering a wide product selection, as well as exclusive
  online and in-store offers for some of Office Depot’s best-in-class
  products and services.
• Enhanced sales and U.S.-based customer support: Members of
  Office Depot’s sales force are reaching out to a number of relevant
  SMBs – leveraging their relationships with over 10 million U.S.
  business customers – to introduce them to the benefits of the products
  and services the companies are providing. Alibaba.com’s U.S.-based
  team is also working with Office Depot’s trusted customer support
  staff to provide U.S. business customers with local support and a
  direct line to sourcing experts who will help them engage with
  Alibaba.com’s global supplier base.
• Driving SMB adoption: Both companies are investing in marketing
  initiatives to build understanding of the value and opportunity
  created for SMB customers through this collaboration, and to drive
  adoption of the platform and services. Office Depot is leveraging its
  33 years of experience in serving SMBs and using both online and
  offline marketing to reach its more than 10 million U.S. business
  customers and prospective customers. Alibaba.com is focusing the
  promotional firepower of its March Expo – a month-long online
  promotional event that helps SMBs discover new products, services, and
  business opportunities on Alibaba.com – as well as future marketing
  initiatives, to similarly drive engagement with U.S. SMBs online and
  in Office Depot and OfficeMax stores.

After a successful initial launch period, Office Depot and Alibaba.com
intend to expand their collaboration to develop the following additional
business customer offerings:

• Faster, more transparent and cost-effective distribution and
  fulfillment. The companies intend to significantly improve the
  cross-border distribution and fulfillment they can offer U.S. SMBs.
  This is expected to shorten delivery times by connecting Alibaba’s
  global logistics capabilities with Office Depot’s integrated B2B
  supply chain and distribution network of more than 1,000 private fleet
  trucks, 9 million square feet of distribution and fulfillment
  capacity, approximately 1,350 retail locations, and dozens of
  third-party logistics partners.
• A new sales channel for U.S. SMBs. Over time, the companies
  intend to help U.S. SMBs sell their products to buyers in the U.S. and
  around the world through Alibaba.com.

“As a trusted partner to millions of businesses, our customers tell us
they want more choice in the market and need an expanded set of products
and services to help their businesses grow. We believe our collaboration
with Alibaba.com is exactly what they are asking for,” said Gerry Smith,
CEO of Office Depot, Inc. “Leveraging Office Depot’s trusted brand,
local presence, and national supply chain distribution network with
Alibaba’s global supplier network and well-known capabilities in serving
SMBs, U.S. businesses can now access a wide array of products and
services through Office Depot and Alibaba.com’s collaboration, which
will empower them to compete and thrive. Through this initial phase of
work together with Alibaba.com, we intend to grow our collaboration in
ways that will drive even greater value and choice for our current and
future customers.”

John Caplan, head of North America B2B at Alibaba Group, said, “American
SMBs – who account for 99.7% of all companies in the United States –
need more ways to grow and compete in today’s economy and take advantage
of the enormous opportunity in B2B e-commerce. Since our founding,
Alibaba’s mission has been to make it easy to do business anywhere. With
Office Depot, we will be able to offer SMBs more choice, greater access,
and further opportunities to grow. We’ll accomplish this by leveraging
Office Depot’s local relationships, capabilities, and expertise
alongside Alibaba’s global platform, technologies, and proven
marketplace model. Together, we see great opportunities to empower our
customers and help them tap into the $23.9 trillion global B2B
e-commerce market.”

About Office Depot, Inc.

Office Depot, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODP) is a leading B2B integrated distribution
company providing business services and supplies, products and
technology solutions through its fully integrated omni-channel platform
of approximately 1,350 stores, online presence, and dedicated sales
professionals and technicians to small, medium and enterprise
businesses. Through its banner brands Office Depot®, OfficeMax®,
CompuCom® and Grand&Toy®, the company offers its customers the tools and
resources they need to focus on their passion of starting, growing and
running their business. For more information, visit officedepot.com,
download the Office Depot app on your iPhone
or Android
and follow @officedepot on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Office Depot is a trademark of The Office Club, Inc. OfficeMax is a
trademark of OMX, Inc. CompuCom is a trademark of CompuCom Systems, Inc.
Grand&Toy is a trademark of Grand & Toy, LLC in Canada. ©2019 Office
Depot, Inc. All rights reserved. Any other product or company names
mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

About Alibaba.com

The first business unit of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com is the leading
platform for global B2B e-commerce that aims to make it easy to do
business anywhere. Launched in 1999, Alibaba.com is engaged in services
covering all aspects of commerce, including providing businesses with
tools that help reach a global audience for their products and helping
buyers discover products, find suppliers, and place orders online fast
and efficiently. It serves millions of buyers and suppliers from over
200 countries and regions around the world.

About Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group’s (NYSE: BABA) mission is to make it easy to do business
anywhere and the company aims to achieve sustainable growth for 102
years. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, the company reported
revenue of US$39.9 billion.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this communication regarding the strategic collaboration
between Office Depot and Alibaba.com and its business prospects, the
expected benefits and synergies of the collaboration, future
opportunities for additional combined offerings, the successful
negotiation and execution of arrangements and transactions contemplated
by the collaboration agreement, and any other statements about Office
Depot’s or Alibaba.com’s managements’ future expectations, beliefs,
goals, plans or prospects constitute forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any
statements that are not statements of historical fact (including
statements containing words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,”
“could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “guidance,” “outlook,”
“intend,” “may,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,”
“propose” or other similar words, phrases or expressions, or other
variations of such words) should also be considered to be
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject
to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of Office
Depot’s and Alibaba.com’s control. There can be no assurances that the
companies will realize these expectations or that these beliefs will
prove correct, and therefore investors and stockholders should not place
undue reliance on such statements. There are a number of important
factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially
from those indicated by the forward-looking statements, including the
companies’ ability to successfully integrate their products, services
and customer support teams, achieve synergies and other benefits, their
ability to develop additional combined offerings that appeal to
customers and other factors as may be detailed from time to time in
their public announcements and Securities and Exchange Commission
filings. The companies undertake no obligation to make any revisions to
the forward-looking statements contained in this communication which
speak only as the date hereof. Except to the extent required by law, the
companies do not undertake, and expressly disclaim, any duty or
obligation to update any forward-looking statement after the date of
this communication to reflect events or circumstances occurring after
the date of this communication.

Contacts

Office Depot
Media Relations
Danny Jovic
[email protected]

Investor
Relations
Tim Perrott
[email protected]

Alibaba.com
Media
Relations
Brion Tingler
[email protected]