Yellow/YRC

FXF is the largest LTL freight company in the US. They have the largest network of freight lanes, the most equipment, the most service centers, and the most drivers. It's second to none in terms of size and scope. XPO is a remotely close 2nd to FXF in those metrics, and XPO hasn't really gained much ground on FXF since it bought Conway freight and got into the LTL game.
My guess would be that FXF is strong and probably isn't going anywhere. But I would never bet my life on any trucking company staying around forever.

 

It's so cute how you think corporations aspire to make sense.

 

Something like that would have to make sense though, or the board and shareholders wouldn't go for it.

 

Oh, they always make sense. It's just that the "lawful evil" approach to the world pays handsome dividends on Wall Street.

So it may not "make sense" to us employees, but it makes sense to the bottom line.

 

What makes sense on paper and what is accomplishable in practice are completely independent of each other. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and shareholders and board members will rubber-stamp anything, including their own demise; albeit unwittingly.

Hence how I am now posting on here as an EX employee of a 100 year old company that once was the 3rd largest LTL carrier. It also was the 5th largest trucking company overall that now only exists as an occasional news blurp on Freight Waves when something new comes out of the bankruptcy court.

In Germany they have a term called "Filmriss". It's when you watch a bad VHS tape and there is a crinkly section where you can't make out what is happening in the movie. If the crinkly part is bad enough and last long enough you can literally end up at a section of the movie and have no idea how the story or cast got there. It's like waking up after drinking yourself blackout drunk and you have no idea what events transpired as you wake up on a random couch with no recollection where you are or how you got there.

That is the state of many of us right now. The party is over and everyone is wondering how we ended up not going to work all of a sudden. How did I go from working weekends and swimming in OT to a termination letter in 30 days.

It all started with an idea that was approved by shareholders and board members that seemed good on paper and ended with us being unemployed.

 

So I was reading this article and it does go hand in hand with what we were talking about. I honestly think that FedEx Freight will be the next to be either sold or split from the parent company.

 

Freight is not only ridiculously profitable but also helps carry the losses from ground and express.

FX getting rid of Freight would jeopardize their ability to run the other banners in a manner that they could consistently pitch to shareholders.

 

Sometimes all it amounts to is propping up earnings for the quarter. Selling FxF would increase revenue and decrease overhead in the quarter the sale closes. Stock goes up, investors are happy, they pour more money into FedEx and they presumably use their new capital to bolster the remaining divisions.

..or the bean counters and suits give themselves massive bonuses.

 

I guess I can eat my words now.

I will say this, there are very few companies who can afford to spend the $50 billion it would cost to buy FxF. If we do get bought out, it won't be done by an existing competitor. Amazon gets mentioned as a possibility sometimes, and while it doesn't make sense to me, it also didn't make sense when they spent $13 billion to buy a chain of grocery stores.

My theory is that if anything happens (which is far from a guarantee), it would be FedEx spinning off the Freight division into a standalone company.

 

And I don't understand that at all.
Freight bringing in money by the bucket load.......why spin them off?
And, yeah.....none of the players want to duplicate service. Why would you?
Amazon, DHL, sure. But the rest of them are already there.