Andria Cheng

Staples on Thursday joined its smaller rival, newly combined Office Depot Inc. and OfficeMax, in reporting disappointing sales and bottom-line earnings, adding to worries about the the future of the office supplies industry. Despite hope that the company may be able to pick up some market share from the merger disruption of its rivals, Staples’ results showed that the headwinds thrown the industry are simply too big to offset any edge it may have over its direct rival.