OfficeMax 2011 Annual Report Download - page 33

PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
As used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, the terms
“OfficeMax,” the “Company,” “we” and “our” refer to OfficeMax Incorporated and its consolidated subsidiaries
and predecessors. Our Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings, which include this Annual Report
on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all related amendments to
those reports, are available free of charge on our website at investor.officemax.com by clicking on “SEC filings.”
Our SEC filings are available as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or
furnish it to, the SEC.
General Overview
OfficeMax is a leader in both business-to-business and retail office products distribution. We provide office
supplies and paper, print and document services, technology products and solutions and office furniture to large,
medium and small businesses, government offices and consumers. OfficeMax customers are served by
approximately 29,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs, the Internet and retail stores located throughout
the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Our
common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OMX, and our corporate
headquarters is in Naperville, Illinois.
OfficeMax Incorporated (formerly Boise Cascade Corporation) was organized as Boise Payette Lumber
Company of Delaware, a Delaware corporation, in 1931 as a successor to an Idaho corporation formed in 1913.
In 1957, the Company’s name was changed to Boise Cascade Corporation. On December 9, 2003, Boise Cascade
Corporation acquired 100% of the voting securities of OfficeMax, Inc. That acquisition more than doubled the
size of our office products distribution business and expanded that business into the U.S. retail channel. In
connection with the sale of our paper, forest products and timberland assets described below, the Company’s
name was changed from Boise Cascade Corporation to OfficeMax Incorporated, and the names of our office
products segments were changed from Boise Office Solutions, Contract and Boise Office Solutions, Retail to
OfficeMax, Contract and OfficeMax, Retail. The Boise Cascade Corporation and Boise Office Solutions names
were used in documents furnished to or filed with the SEC prior to the sale of our paper, forest products and
timberland assets.
On October 29, 2004, we sold our paper, forest products and timberland assets to affiliates of Boise
Cascade, L.L.C., a new company formed by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC (the “Sale”). With the Sale, we
completed the Company’s transition, begun in the mid-1990s, from a predominately commodity manufacturing-
based company to an independent office products distribution company. On October 29, 2004, as part of the Sale,
we invested $175 million in the securities of affiliates of Boise Cascade, L.L.C. Due to restructurings conducted
by those affiliates, our investment is currently in Boise Cascade Holdings, L.L.C. (the “Boise Investment”).
The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of OfficeMax and all majority-
owned subsidiaries, except our 88%-owned subsidiary that formerly owned assets in Cuba that were confiscated
by the Cuban government in the 1960s, which is accounted for as an investment due to various asset restrictions.
We also consolidate the variable interest entities in which the Company is the primary beneficiary. All significant
intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.
Fiscal Year
The Company’s fiscal year-end is the last Saturday in December. Due primarily to statutory requirements,
the Company’s international businesses maintain calendar years with December 31 year-ends, with our majority-
owned joint venture in Mexico reporting one month in arrears. Fiscal year 2011 ended on December 31, 2011,
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