The fate of Staples Inc's planned merger with Office Depot Inc, which U.S. antitrust regulators have sued to stop, depends in part on whether a district court judge decides that Amazon.com Inc will soon become a behemoth in the office supply business. In opening arguments on Monday in the court fight between the Federal Trade Commission and Staples, Tara Reinhart argued for the FTC that Staples' $6.3 billion bid for Office Depot is illegal because the two companies sell 79 percent of the pens, paper, file folders and other "consumable office supplies" sold to Fortune 100 companies.
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