Office Depot And OfficeMax Made A Really Strange Leadership Decision

Office Depot and OfficeMax decided to merge without picking a new CEO for the combined company.

Instead, there's going to be a competition.

This whole process is really strange. Leadership is almost always decided before going through something as big as a multibillion dollar corporate merger.

“We always tell our students that you need to decide three things before a merger: price, board of directors and CEO,” Jay Lorsch, a professor at Harvard Business School, told Bloomberg. “I don’t think this bodes well for the merger if they can’t agree on a CEO. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

A selection committee will be put together and it will decide who will take the helm of the new company.

"Both incumbent CEOs, as well as external candidates, will be considered in the search process," says Office Depot's press release. "Neil Austrian, the Chairman and CEO of Office Depot, and Ravi Saligram, the President and CEO of OfficeMax will remain in their current positions through the completion of the search process."

The company's name, brands, and the location of the corporate headquarters are still undecided. They will be determined by the new leadership after the committee picks a new CEO.