Two of trucking’s biggest carriers are planning to merge in what would be the largest acquisition in trucking industry history. Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation announced the $6 billion merger this week.
The two competing companies have a long, intertwined history. Before Knight was founded in 1990, Kevin, Gary, and Randy Knight all worked for Swift, helping founder Jerry Moyes build the company to the giant it is today.
“I cannot think of a better combination,” said Moyes in a press release announcing the merger. “The Knight and Moyes families grew up together, and the Knights helped me build Swift before starting their own company and making it an industry leader in growth and profitability.”
According to the merger announcement, the new company will be called Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings. The companies will maintain their separate brands and operations, but they will operate under common ownership. Under that “common ownership” though, some reports claim that it seems like the Knight camp may have come out on top.
The new Board of Directors for the holding company will consist of all current Knight directors, but only four Swift directors – two to be named by the current Swift board, and two to be named by Moyes himself.
Knight’s current CEO and CFO will stay in place in their current roles at the new company, but the merger announcement states that Swift’s current CEO and CFO “have chosen to pursue other opportunities.” Kevin Knight will take over as the President of the Swift operating entities.
Additionally, while current shares of both companies will be converted into shares of the new company, Swift shares will convert at a rate of 0.72 shares to 1 while Knight shares will convert at a 1 to 1 ratio.
Both Swift and Knight’s leadership sound excited about the new direction the companies will be taking however, with even Swift’s outgoing CEO managing to voice support; “I am proud of all Swift has accomplished and that it will be a significant part of this new venture, which brings together the most robust, respected and reliable truckload providers in North America.”
Moyes however seemed to be the biggest cheerleader, saying that he’s “very confident” that the merger is the right approach and called for “everyone at Swift to join me in supporting the Knight-Swift leadership team.”
Jerry Moyes will stay on as a “non-employee senior advisor” to the Knights and will continue to receive his $200k per month consulting fee that Swift started paying him when he stepped down as CEO at the end of 2016. Despite not being an executive at the new company, as the owner of a significant number of shares, Moyes and his family stand to do very well if the new venture succeeds.
“The Knights have known Jerry for 50 years, and we worked with him at Swift for over a decade,” Kevin Knight said. “He trusts us and is fully committed to the ongoing board and leadership team.”
The merger has been approved by both boards, but will now need to be approved by the shareholders of both companies in order to move forward.
According to a statement put out by Knight Transportation, the merger should be beneficial for shareholders of both companies. If the merger is approved, the combined companies will be able to take advantage of greater economies of scale. Knight states that this would generate savings of $15 million in the second half of 2017 alone. Savings in 2018 would go up to $100 million, and then another $150 million in 2019 according to Knight’s estimates.
The new company will have an estimated 23,000 tractors, 77,000 trailers, and 28,000 employees. The merger announcement claims that Knight-Swift will create “North America’s premier truckload transportation company with $5 billion in annual revenue and a “Top 5” truckload presence in dry van, refrigerated, dedicated, cross-border Mexico and Canada, and a significant presence in brokerage and intermodal.”
If this merger is approved, less than 30 years after leaving Swift to start their own company, the Knight family will return and crown themselves kings.
Source: gobytrucknews, truckinginfo, fleetowner, overdrive, fleetowner, businesswire, dcvelocity, streetinsider, bizjournals
Martin E Neltner says
I pray they use common sense and pay their drivers more in incentives. After all Swift and Knight exist because of dedicated drivers.
Over 2 years. Bonus tier 1
Over 5 years. Bonus teri 2
Over 5 years stock option
Clean record.
Excellent driving
On time customer satisfaction
Clean truck
Takes care of truck and equipment
Polite team player servant helping others
Keeps family together
God fearing person who loves his family internal and company and loves the USA.
Chuck Numpkins says
Companies should give unmarried atheists like me bonus money. I don’t take excessive home time to see family or celebrate silly holidays. I’m not sure blind obedience to the leaders of your geographical location is healthy either but I don’t see how you’d prove that one way or another to your boss.
unclefungus says
Hahahaha
Tom says
Doesn’t drive in the medium strip.
Doesn’t try to fit under 11’bridges.
Doesn’t hit other trucks.
Etc…
Darrell McBurney says
Stays off of UTUBE and gets more instruction and obeys the laws, allows others to get home everyday!
MrYowler says
I’ve got to agree with Chuck. Family, religious, and patriotic values are hard to quantify and harder to reward. What do you do with a good Bhuddist? It winds up being another form of prejudice and inequality. Reward people for longevity? Maybe. But the rest of it is just hogwash.
Randy says
Moyes, Knights, their all the same. They infest my city with homless they bus here for their “Driving school” and end up living on the streets of downtown Phoenix. The ones that DO graduate are untrained inexperienced drivers making less than a living wage so they stress out, don’t sleep or eat and crash their truck. Swift and Knight are a cancer on my city and need to be boycotted.
Steve says
Interesting comments, how many years/miles do you have in a tractor-trailer?
Robert says
You really don’t know what you’re talking about do you randy?
unclefungus says
Randy. Your wonderful city was a homeless hotbed way before Knight or Swift. I was homeless there once for a weekend back in 82. Something about that heated sidewalk at 2 AM makes for a good place to crash when the money runs low.
Dan the Man says
I only read.this for the Swift crash comments that happen at Knight. Boy was I disappointed :/
Alex says
The mega carriers buy all the little companies and merge them. Now this. Our industry is becoming like the cell phone companies where the government had to step in because they became a monopoly. I do not like this at all. It will inevitably lower our industry standards and we already experience low enough CPM.
Speedy121 says
Tweedle Dee And Tweedle Dum
Or
Dumb and Dumber!
Take your pick.
Henderson says
Beat me to it. My exact thought
Your cyber truck stop / face book says
The one guy gets 200 thousand a month fior consulting fees , are they out of there mind . There’s your answer for the merger , driver pay will remain the same as hopefully a increase in revenue will take care of the stock holders . Just another day in corporate America or corporate greed as I see it .
Cliff says
Well, Knight was one of the main players that started the Alliance for Driver Safety and Security. You Know…. the group whose sole goal was to get Elogs in every truck and speed limiters on every truck in America. Swift may have also done this stuff internally, but they were not part of “The Alliance”. So this move will embolden Knight to go further with that agenda. They bought out Barr-Nunn a year or two ago. They have now sucked up Swift. They are like a black hole sucking in everything they can.
juan says
Bottom feeders
Tom says
Call “The Alliance” what it really is…The Dark Side of The Force”
MrYowler says
I wonder how much of “the Alliance” is just companies that the Knight brothers can exert ownership or other economic influence over…?
Ron says
And the rich keep getting richer. At the expense of others. It’s call GREED people. But these folks will make excuses for getting richer by playing this down as much as possible., people won’t know what is really going on.We are stupid enough to buy into this scam.
Charles says
If you look at Americas various industries, a handful seem to own or have a significant involvment in the major corporations….be it tech, transportation or defense. “Competition” has become a joke, when it was originally alledged to result in the best product and value for comsumers. You are one of the few aware of what corporations/elites are doing to the working class.
Snow Walker says
This is getting very close to a monopoly. When a monopoly happens, it’s always the employees who get the short end of the stick.
rsalld says
Has anyone considered what this will do to trucking rates? Remember, JB cut the rates because they had so many trucks on the road…
DragusX says
Swift is the black hole, sucking every last penny out of the drivers empty pockets. Shorting the drivers on mileage pay is only part of vast amount of money stolen by the Viper every day. Now it will only get worse.
Old man says
And the industry continues it’s downward spiral..
juan says
I like to receive 200,000.00 for poking my nostrils
SMH says
Thank you, juan. I know it said Jerry Moyes is a “non-employee” consultant, but how many other perks is he getting with his $200k/per MONTH salary? In case your head hurts trying to figure out that salary, it comes out to $2.4 M/year. But back to the perks…like I said, yeah I know he’s a “non-employee”, but does the Co. pick up things like rooms, cars, meals, airfare? Just curious.
Maximus says
Yeahhhh :)) hahaha Jerry get $200K every months and his peasants .35cpm and have no ambition other than those beggars wishes like incentives for this and that kind of give me a penny here a nickle there. Drivers don’t be soooo stupid ! Wake up ! They use you like slaves to be where they are at now and you like beggars are fighting for your measarable dimes and nickles here and there. Instead of that demand a descent pay. Those two greedy companies love their stupd ignorant workforce.
BA says
Great! that’s all we need is more 60mph trucks clogging up the roads.
Gonzalo Lopez-Castilla says
Why 60 mph if they can govern them at 58 mph! Prime and Tmc and others they seem to go slower and slower each year …
Scott says
Yes, nobody likes a tractor that’s governed at 58 or 62, except for the entity that actually pays for the fuel.
Babyface says
Best comment here.
Deaconblues62 says
LOL, Now Swift has a place to hide from all the Lawsuits.
Debbie Cade Tullis says
Anti-trust laws don’t cover this? SWIFT probably needs Knight to bolster their safety stats
Cap'n Kornholio says
So now they have the combined buying power to get trucks for about $.60 on the dollar and trailers at the same rate. They will get even better fuel discounts while paying their drivers next to nothing. So the can under bid everyone else and put us all out of building and out on the street. Where’s the FCC when you actually need them?
John Alexander says
I drive for knight and I make .44 per mile
Brian says
Probably doing the job they are supposed to be doing, which has nothing to do with transportation. “The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.”
Jude Ossowski says
FCC? What does the FCC have to do with any of this? I hope you don’t mean “ICC”, either.
unclefungus says
You take an FCC and put it in an ICC and shake it all around. Boom banga chang
Trucker4us23 says
Perfect way to drive down rates… All them trucks and that size company… You can really haul everything you possibly want for next to nothing.. Slowly driving the small company/independents out..
Brown mat says
People need to start doing something else’s instead of crying when they feel threatened. If you are driving for 10 or more years then you should know how to make money other then just keep driving. Any job is not guarantee, it’s possible the technology will take it over so best to do is get out of your comfort zone and start doing something else on the side.
If you think that the trucking company cares their investors more then the drivers then why don’t you invest your paycheck on the company? That way you can see both sides of the world. Again we have to stop crying every time we feel threatened and start getting out of our comfort zone.
J L says
If you aren’t preparing a back up career path for the possible career disruption automated trucks may cause in 2-3 years then it’s on you…
Independent Driver says
Well, if nothing else, this merger finally resolves the long-running dispute over which of the two was actually the worst company in the industry.
jp says
$200,000 per month.? No wonder they can’t pay their drivers better money..I drove for knight for 3 months and it was the worst company I ever worked for..My biggest pay check was $ 300.00..THEY SUCK.!!!!
John Oak says
Want the greedy trucking industry to raise pay? In order for their narrow-minded selfish and negligent assessment to hear us, Truckers need to go on a 1 week strike. We are the PRIMARY movers of commerce and goods that even they take advantage of without ANY thought or value as to how those goods became available for them to purchase and aquire. But if truckers got enough nerve and courage to go on a 1 week strike that would not only halt all movement of transported goods, but also severely hurt their pockets, these trucking companies that have been blatantly taking advantage of drivers for years will have no choice but to listen to the needs of commercial drivers. We are an extremely powerful force. Without drivers there couldn’t be a company. Being harassed and retaliated against by dispatch needs to stop. Being paid only by pennies on the mile and not properly compensated for the time working outside of active driving is free labor, and should cease! Detention pay is a weak masked attempt and excuse for trucking companies to not do what they should, and that’s financial compensation by the hour as well as by the mile. The free labor ride these companies have been benefiting from needs to STOP! Being paid pennies needs to stop! These predatory contracts they’re bringing unsuspecting new drivers in on NEEDS TO STOP! USING HireRight as a weapon to intentionally ruin a drivers’ career and life needs to STOP! We should demand more because we are worth more! And we should earn more and be treated with the dignity and respect we deserve! And the ONLY way they’ll take us serious is if we STRIKE. STRIKE. STRIKE. These companies would absolutely lose their minds if that were to actually happen. The bubble they’re so comfortably living in, and can’t hear us because of if, would burst wide open. Until this happens, these trucking companies will continue to treat drivers less than, and nothing will ever change for the better. Sometimes, if you want to see a win you have to fight for a victory.
Raj says
Couldn’t agree any more! Just new age slavery and degradation to fuel the pockets of the institution
Old Guy says
You’re right . Expose Hire Right as nothing more than another tool for scab companies to purposely s rew up your driving history . What’s wrong with just using your DMV printout when applying for a job . If you could get all off the trucking industry to strike at the same time like the Teamsters used to do , conditions and pay would improve, but with so many new drivers and company brainwashed kiss ass drivers out there it’s never going to be a reality until you organize with Teamster representation . Corporate greed understands one thing . Loss of income from a strike . Drivers need to grow some balls and unite . Scab companies and scab drivers are going to be the death of good union jobs . Anyone who crosses a Union picket line is stealing another driver’s life and is just a POS screwing himself . Too candy ass to stand up for a better future . What happens to a scab when you pick at it ? It bleeds .?
Mr. Todd Morris says
Maybe now the NTSB and and FMCA’s power can talk to Hoffa and get all drivers a fair wage and force real safety not just smoke up our you know
Or better yet close them both downing
These guys give more to lds then they do there yearly payroll and then get that 10% as a charitable right off
Rock says
Further then 2 to 3 years out JL!!!
unclefungus says
Heeeeyyyyy Drrriivvveerr! When you get that $1000 check for your 70 hours of hard work. I want you to think about the $200,000 check Moyes gets. Just because…..
Anthony says
Well there certainly no shortage of comments here…The only merger that would have made this the merger from hell would have been Schneider, and J.B. Hunt…Knight and Swift are a scourge to the industry…Slow moving trucks…Rookie drivers for both swift and Knight transportation…Anybody that’s been out there for more than 2 years knows not to park anywhere near these clowns…I drove for twenty years, and Swift/Knight drive slow, and cause traffic backups on the interstate…no need for speed limiters for these companies…When you get west of San Antonio, TX on I-10 the speed limit is 85…And most generally the speed limit in the Southwest is 75 MPH…Talk about being a safety hazard!!! There’s so much distracted driving now, and that’s all this industry needs is a 62MPH truck traveling in that zone…A 4 wheeler texting, or doing something he/she isn’t suppose to be doing…They’re not paying attention, and will run right into the back of the DOT bumper…Decapitation. They should then write the driver a citation for traveling to slow for conditions…I have no idea what the pay scale is at swift/Knight…But if all they’re paying them is peanuts to drive…It appears to me most of what they’re doing these days is rail anyways…How in the world can those drivers make any money??These young drivers getting into this industry don’t need this kind of stress and aggravation…It’s tough out there as it is already…This merger cost a pretty penny that’s for sure…Perhaps they’ll cut the drivers CPM to make up the difference…I’m sure the big wigs can’t wait for the Autonomous system to be implemented…They can get rid of the drivers, and then when their system is hacked, and the trucks run over somebody or cause a massive wreck on the interstate…They’ll have their asses sued off, and then they can fold their tents permanently…Ya…This autonomous thing is a disaster just waiting to happen.
Old Guy says
All that money to merge with another company but not enough to pay your drivers a living wage WITH HEALTH INSURANCE Included like a Teamster company . The scab companies get richer and the drivers get shit on as usual … Ever since Reagan and deregulation this is what you get . The middle class is disappearing in the trucking industry thanks to that . Now it’s damn near poverty class ..I’m so glad I retired from trucking after 37 years . Enjoying my Teamster pension checks . My heart goes out to all of you currant truck drivers out there . You work your asses off trying to be a good driver and the companies shit on you . Trucking used to be a fun , awesome, safe, great paying job to have . Not no more . Good truckers bust their asses and deserve much better than what they get now .More money, more RESPECT . Try and drive for a Teamster company if you can.. Much much better pay, bennifits & retirement pension .. .. God Bless All truck drivers out there . Be safe . ??
Brian G says
This affects so many things we can’t even think of. Good to be in SP when I read something like this. God speed to those swift/knight drivers out there.
Shogun says
Consultant? Every time I hear that I laugh. Ok, Mr. Moyer thanks for coming to the meeting, here’s the monthly update. Driver turnover is still 130%, we have 100 trucks out of service for having DEF in the fuel tanks, 25 van trailers converted to flat beds thanks to low underpasses, we put 200 people through our trucking school which means at least 100 new driver trainers, and the truck recovery team is needing some additional drivers. What’s’s that? Oh you just wanted your check? Ok see you next month.