Viking Direct
 | |
| Company type | Private limited company and subsidiary of Office Depot |
|---|---|
| Industry | Office supplies |
| Founded | 1960 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Founder | Rolf Ostern |
| Headquarters | Leicester, United Kingdom |
Area served | Europe |
Key people | John Moore, Regional Vice President, UK and Ireland |
| Products | Print supplies, paper and mailing, technology, furniture, and writing instruments |
Number of employees | 1,300 (UK) |
| Parent | Office Depot |
| Website | www |
Viking Direct, trading as Viking, is an office supply mail order catalogue company based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Office Depot. It is headquartered in Leicester, United Kingdom.
Founded in 1960 in Los Angeles, California, Viking operates in over 11 countries worldwide and employs over 1,300 people in the UK. The company is a mail order seller of office supplies to small and medium sized businesses.[1]
On February 4, 2015, it was announced that rival Staples had agreed to purchase Viking’s parent company, Office Depot, in a cash and stock deal worth approximately $6.3 billion. The deal will proceed following the expected approval of both companies' shareholders as well as governmental regulatory authorities.[2]
History
Viking began in 1960 as a small office supply retailer located in Los Angeles, California. The store was opened on January 7, 1960, by Rolf Ostern. Ostern supplemented the retail operation with a catalogue, and this would become the primary marketing technique of the company. In 1969 Ostern changed the name of his store to Viking Office Supplies and moved to a new location.[3]
By the mid-1970s, Viking had established itself as a West Coast mail-order retailer of discount office supplies to small and medium-sized businesses. At that time, the company began a geographic expansion.
On September 1, 1988, Viking was sold by its founders in a leveraged buyout to the VOP Acquisition Corporation. This company had been founded by Viking's management and the New York investment banking house of Dillon Read & Company, along with some of their affiliates, for the express purpose of purchasing Viking.
In December, 1989, VOP was merged into its subsidiary, Viking Office Products, in preparation for the company's initial public offering of stock. On March, 14, 1990, Viking offered stock to the public on the NASDAQ stock exchange, selling 2,300,000 shares at a price of $10.50 per share to raise $25 million.
The company made its first move overseas in September, 1990. At that time, Viking established a United Kingdom subsidiary, Viking Direct Limited, and opened a facility in Leicester, England. In making this move, Viking hoped to gain a toe-hold in the European Economic Community before the planned unification of that market. In a brief time, Viking Direct became the largest mail order marketer of office supplies in the United Kingdom.
The source of Viking's steady growth was its state-of-the-art database and catalogue customising technology.
In 1998, Viking Office Products merged with Office Depot. The following year the company began to move online, launching e-commerce site www.viking-direct.co.uk. [4]
Products
Viking Direct sells print supplies, paper and mailing, technology, furniture, and writing instruments.
References
- ^ "Who are Viking". Viking Direct.
- ^ Lance Whitney (4 February 2015). "Staples to buy Office Depot for $6 billion". CNET. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
- ^ "History of Viking Office Products". Funding Universe.
- ^ "Office Deport our history". Office Depot.
External links
