FedEx Corporation

What does FedEx Corporation own?

It owns Federal Express (the unified express and ground carrier), FedEx Office, FedEx Logistics, and FedEx Dataworks, plus a 19.9 percent residual stake in FedEx Freight (NYSE: FDXF), which it spun off in June 2026.

Is FedEx publicly traded?

Yes. FedEx Corporation trades on the NYSE under FDX. It has been public since 1978.

Who owns FedEx?

No single owner controls it. Vanguard and BlackRock are the largest institutional holders, with shares broadly distributed among public investors.

What happened to FedEx Freight?

FedEx spun off FedEx Freight on June 1, 2026. Freight shares were distributed to FedEx stockholders and now trade independently under ticker FDXF. FedEx retained 19.9 percent and intends to sell it within two years.

Where is FedEx headquartered?

Memphis, Tennessee, USA, where the company's global hub has operated since 1973.

How does FedEx make money?

Through per-package fees on express and ground delivery, freight forwarding and logistics services, retail shipping and printing at FedEx Office stores, and fuel surcharges tied to energy prices.

Fred Smith drafted the core concept, a dedicated overnight air freight network radiating from a single hub, in a 1965 Yale term paper. He incorporated Federal Express in 1971 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and began operations from Memphis on April 17, 1973, with 14 Falcon 20 jets. The famous origin story includes Smith flying to Las Vegas in 1974 to win enough at blackjack to make payroll; the company denies nothing and the tale survives in corporate lore.

Deregulation of air cargo in 1977 removed restrictions on aircraft size, and FedEx went public in 1978. Through the 1980s it added overnight letter service, international routes, and the $895 million Flying Tiger Line acquisition in 1989 that established its intercontinental freight network.

The 1990s brought the FedEx name, real-time package tracking over the internet, and the 1998 Caliber System purchase that added the RPS ground network, renamed FedEx Ground. The 2004 acquisition of Kinko's for $2.4 billion created FedEx Office. In 2016, FedEx acquired Dutch carrier TNT Express for $4.8 billion to build European scale; the integration was hampered by the June 2017 NotPetya cyberattack, which cost roughly $300 million and damaged TNT's systems for months.

E-commerce growth through the 2010s strained the separation between the Express and Ground units, and the pandemic surge of 2020 to 2021 pushed volumes to records before demand cooled. Smith retired as CEO in June 2022. Under Subramaniam, FedEx merged its operating companies into one Federal Express entity under the "One FedEx" plan, launched the DRIVE cost program targeting $4 billion in annual savings, consolidated stations under Network 2.0, and agreed in December 2024 to separate FedEx Freight. The spin-off completed June 1, 2026, and the company moved to a calendar fiscal year effective the same date, reporting a seven-month transition period ending December 31, 2026.

FedEx has committed to carbon-neutral global operations by 2040. Core initiatives include electrifying the pickup and delivery fleet, with a goal of 50 percent of new vehicle purchases being electric by 2025 and 100 percent by 2030; scaling sustainable aviation fuel; and sequestering carbon through a $100 million Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture endowment. Aviation emissions dominate the footprint and progress there depends on fuel technology outside FedEx's direct control. The company publishes annual ESG reporting and reports to CDP.

The 2017 NotPetya attack on TNT Express remains one of the costliest corporate cyber incidents on record at roughly $300 million. FedEx paid $228 million in 2016 to settle driver misclassification claims in California, and its independent service provider model continues to draw labor-law scrutiny. In 2019 the company rerouted Huawei packages amid U.S.-China trade conflict, triggering a Chinese regulatory investigation that was resolved without major penalty. A former FedEx executive pleaded guilty in 2023 in a bribery scheme involving U.S. Postal Service contracting. The company has also drawn recurring criticism for firearm shipping policies and for delivery-performance failures during holiday peaks.