Herman Miller to take over Knoll in $1.8 billion merger

Modern furniture design giant Herman Miller, Inc. announced its $1.8 billion acquisition plans of rival Knoll Inc. today. "This transaction brings together two pioneering icons of design with strong businesses, attractive portfolios and long histories of innovation," commented Andi Owen, President and CEO of Herman Miller as well as the future combined company. "As distributed working models become the new normal for companies, businesses are reimagining the office to foster collaboration, culture and focused work, while supporting a growing remote employee base. At the same time, consumers are making significant investments in their homes. With a broad portfolio, global footprint and advanced digital capabilities, we will be poised to meet our customers everywhere they live and work." Bloomberg reports that the merger would help the companies "feed into the transformation of home and office as work continues to be split between the two." The combination is expected to close by the...