As a former management consultant I like to trace company histories to better understand them. XPO Logistics has an interesting one! From Wikipedia:
History[edit]
Express-1 Expedited Solutions was founded in May 1989 by Michael R. Welch and Keith Avery, with a focus on transportation of time-critical, high-value shipments.[12] The company was purchased in August 2004 by the transportation firm Segmentz, Inc., a public company that subsequently went through a restructuring to close unprofitable business units. In 2006, Segmentz changed its name back to Express-1 Expedited Solutions, and began trading its stock under the stock symbol XPO.[13][14] In May 2003, the company’s business unit Express-1 Dedicated, Inc. was awarded a contract to provide dedicated transportation services to Ford Motor Company, a contract that would yield approximately 90 percent of the business unit’s revenue.[15] Ford announced in November 2008 that it was ending the contract, and the business unit ceased operations in February 2009.
Express-1 acquired Concert Group Logistics, Inc., a non-asset based freight forwarder, in January 2008[16] Two months later, Express-1 launched Bounce Logistics, Inc., a business unit providing freight brokerage services. In February 2009, the firm acquired First Class Expediting Services, Inc. to strengthen its operations in the Midwest.[17] In October of that year, the firm expanded its international services with the acquisition of LRG International, Inc., a global freight forwarding company.[18][19]
In June 2011, Express-1 became the vehicle for Bradley Jacobs’ entry into the truck brokerage industry, an industry that Jacobs viewed as ripe for consolidation, with only 15 percent of trucking currently outsourced to third-party logistics brokers.[7] In the 1990s, Jacobs had spearheaded the consolidation of the waste management and equipment rental industries in North America through an aggressive strategy of cold starts of greenfield locations as well as acquisitions.[20] With the $150 million investment in the company, including up to $135 million from his investment firm, Jacobs Private Equity LLC,[6] Jacobs gained ownership of approximately 71 percent of the company.[21][22] He announced plans to move the headquarters from Michigan to Greenwich, Connecticut, with the name changed to XPO Logistics, trading under the symbol XPO on the NYSE AMEX Exchange. On October 12, 2011, Jacobs rang the bell to open the Exchange.[23]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XPO_Logistics
Denny Schlesinger
