Profile

FedEx Corporation is an American multinational delivery services company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "FedEx" is a syllabic abbreviation of the name of the company's original air division, Federal Express , which was used from 1973 until 2000. The company is known for its overnight shipping service and pioneering a system that could track packages and provide real-time updates on package location, a feature that has now been implemented by most other carrier services. FedEx is also one of the top contractors of the US government. The company was founded in 1971 as Federal Express Corporation by Frederick W. Smith, a graduate of Yale Business School. He drew up the company's concept in a term paper at Yale, in which he called for a system specifically designed for urgent deliveries. While his professor didn't think much of the idea, Smith pressed on. He began formal operations in 1973, when he moved operations to Memphis. Besides its location near the center of the country, Memphis International Airport almost always stayed open in inclement weather.