Dive Summary:

• Office Depot Inc. will buy its smaller rival OfficeMax Inc. in a deal worth $976 million in stocks; according to sources, the terms of the deal were not yet finalized yesterday morning when reports of the deal first leaked.
• Shares of both companies' dropped as a result of the leak, but not far enough to fall below the per-share value of the initial offer.
• The naming and structure of the company post-merger has yet to be determined, which are details usually ironed out prior to finalization of a deal.

From the article:

In a presentation to analysts, Office Depot Chief Executive Officer Neil Austrian said the company's webcast provider inadvertently issued the press release "way ahead" of schedule. Thomson Reuters acknowledged that one of its units was responsible for the premature release.

"We regret this error and are taking all steps necessary to enhance our processes and controls to ensure this does not happen again, as serving our valued customers remains our highest priority," Thomson Reuters said in a statement. ...