Staples To Close Up To 225 Stores By 2015

FRAMINGHAM (CBS/AP) — Staples will close up to 225 stores by the end of next year and the office-supply retailer is initiating a plan to save about $500 million annually by 2015,

The Framingham company says nearly half of its sales are now generated online, so it will aggressively cut costs to become more efficient.

Read: Staples Statement

The closings, all in North America, will help the company meet its pre-tax savings goal.

The list of stores has not been announced yet.

The closings amount to about 10 percent of Staples Inc.'s worldwide total of 2,200.

It has 1,500 locations in the United States.

The company's fourth quarter earnings more than doubled compared with last year, when the company booked a restructuring charge of more than $176 million.

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