ODP urges rejection of dissident nominees

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. Office Depot is continuing to urge its shareholders to vote for its director nominees at its 2008 annual meeting of stockholders and to reject the nominations of the Woodbridge Group, a joint party formed by Office Depot investor Levitt.

In a letter to its investors, Office Depot stated, "Your board of directors strongly urges all Office Depot stockholders to reject the dissident nominees and to vote for the company's directors."

The company went on to say that Levitt's attempt to remove the current and former chairman and ceo of Office Depot would be "highly disruptive" and could hurt its chances for a successful turnaround.

Office Depot cited a challenging economic environment as the reason for its performance, but noted that its sales were up 3% in 2007 over 2006.

On March 17, the Woodbridge Group announced its intentions to nominate Mark Begelman, the former president and coo of Office Depot, and Martin Hanaka, the former president and coo of Staples, for election to Office Depot's board of directors.

Alan Levan, the chairman of the board and ceo of Levitt and Woodbridge, said, "As Office Depot shareholders, we believe Office Depot needs new representation on its board to revitalize the company and store experience and return Office Depot to a high-performance organization again. Under the current board and management team, Office Depot has lost its vision, its competitive position in the office supply retailing space and its drive for leadership.