FedEx Founder Fred Smith Dies at 80

FedEx (FDX) founder Fred Smith, who turned a small delivery company into a global shipping giant, died on Saturday, the company said. He was 80.

“It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that I share that Frederick W. Smith, our founder and executive chairman, died earlier today,” Raj Subramaniam, who succeeded Smith as FedEx CEO in 2022, wrote Saturday night. “Fred was more than just the pioneer of an industry and the founder of our great company. He was the heart and soul of FedEx.”

In 1973, Smith’s Memphis, Tenn.-based company, then known as Federal Express, began with 186 deliveries on its first day of operations. Now it delivers about 16 million packages per day and, in its 2024 fiscal year, generated revenue of more than $22 billion.

FedEx is slated to report fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter results on Tuesday.