The retailer says it begun a search for a permanentreplacement. Chris Milliken, president & CEO ofOfficeMax said in a statement: "We are disappointedthat Brian is leaving after only two months ofservice. We regret that his commitment to ourbusiness was not strong enough to allow him to make along-term contribution."

Anderson joined OfficeMax in early November 2004 fromDeerfield, IL-based pharmaceutical company BaxterInternational Inc., where he served as a senior vicepresident & CFO. Previously, he was an audit partnerwith Deloitte & Touche.

In addition to Anderson's abrupt departure, OfficeMaxalso announced that it will postpone the release ofits earnings for the fourth quarter and full year2004, pending the conclusion of its previouslyannounced internal investigation into issues relatingto its accounting for vendor income. The investigationis being conducted under the direction of the auditcommittee of OfficeMax's board of directors.

To date, the company's investigation has confirmed theclaims by a vendor to its retail business that certainemployees fabricated supporting documentation forapproximately $3.3 million in claims billed to thevendor by OfficeMax during 2003 and 2004. Theretailer, which has nearly 950 superstores, expects tocomplete its investigation by the third full week ofFebruary 2005.

OfficeMax's competitor, Office Depot, which has 923retail stores in North America, also has experiencedsome difficulties recently. The Delray Beach, FL-basedretailer is currently searching for a CEO after BruceNelson abruptly resigned last month. Moreover, theretailer reported disappointing third-quarter resultsand said it would trim about 2% of its North Americanworkers.

In contract, Staples Inc. is performing well. For thethird quarter ended October 30, 2004, the retailer hadnet income of $209 million, a 26% increase versus thethird quarter of 2003. Moreover, the company reportedtotal sales for the quarter of $3.8 billion, anincrease of 12% compared to $3.4 billion reported forthe same period last year.