FedEx: Saved by Blackjack


 Everybody knows about FedEx. Founded in 1971 as Federal Express Corporation by Frederick W. Smith, FedEx is the first overnight courier, operating in more than 200 countries and handling more than a billion packages annually. Three years after its launch, the company was left with nothing more than $5000 in the bank account, and the inability to pay the fuel expenses of planes.


And Frederick Smith did something that no one would’ve even thought about. He flew to Las Vegas with the last five thousand of the company funds. This was much of a surprise to everyone in the FedEx! Roger Frock, a vice president of operations back then, wrote the book ‘Changing How the World Does Business: FedEx’s Incredible Journey to Success’, in which he reports his and Smith’s reactions:


This was not the final solution to the problem, yet it gave Smith the time to find investors and to bring FedEx back on its feet. He raised $11,000,000 and by 1976 FedEx had a profit of 3 and a half million dollars. For 2018, the company has a revenue of $65.450 billion. That’s what we call luck!

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