XPO Logistics

XPO Logistics is an American transportation and contract logistics company that manages supply chains for 50,000 customers worldwide, including 69 of the Fortune 100. It operates in 30 countries, with approximately 100,000 employees. XPO Logistics, Inc. was the 7th best-performing stock of the last decade on the Fortune 500, with its share price rising more than 1,000% from the time its CEO, Brad Jacobs, took control. XPO's corporate headquarters are located in Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S. Its regional headquarters for the European markets are located in Lyon, France.
History.
In September 2011, American businessman Brad Jacobs acquired Express-1 Expedited Solutions, Inc. and became its chairman and CEO. The company changed its name to XPO Logistics – a reference to Express-1's AMEX ticker symbol, “XPO” – and began acquiring other companies in the transportation and logistics sector. 
In March 2012, XPO opened a national operations center in Charlotte, N.C. and listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in June of the same year. 
On 28 April 2015, XPO Logistics announced a $3.56 billion (3.24 billion euros) deal to acquire Norbert Dentressangle, including acquired debt. The acquisition was completed on 8 June 2015, and the Dentressangle brand was phased out from June 2015.
In June 2016, XPO was included in the "Fortune" 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations based on revenue. By May 2019, XPO was ranked 180th on the "Fortune" 500 list.
Spin-off of contract logistics segment.
In December 2020, XPO announced an intent to spin off its global contract logistics segment into a separate company to be called GXO Logistics Inc. The new pure-play logistics entity will be the world’s second largest contract logistics provider. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2021. 
The CEO of the new business will be current CEO of XPO Logistics Europe, Malcolm Wilson.
Operations.
XPO Logistics operates in two segments: transportation and contract logistics.
Transportation.
XPO's transportation portfolio includes less-than-truckload (LTL), freight brokerage, last mile, intermodal, drayage and global forwarding services. XPO's LTL unit ships freight on pallets using a hub-and-spoke distribution system. It is the third-largest LTL provider in North America and a leading LTL provider in Western Europe, with 16,000 tractors and 39,000 trailers. XPO's North American LTL network includes 290 cross-dock facilities and more than 75,000 next-day and two-day lanes. In freight brokerage, XPO primarily connects independent road carriers with companies that need to ship materials, parts, or finished goods. XPO is the second-largest freight brokerage provider worldwide, with approximately 38,000 independent carriers operating over one million trucks.
XPO is the largest provider of last mile logistics for heavy goods in North America — arranging the home delivery of heavy goods that typically require assembly or installation, such as washing machines, refrigerators, exercise equipment and home entertainment systems — in North America.
Contract logistics.
XPO operates approximately 890 warehouses with 212 million square feet of facility space, making it the second largest third-party contract logistics provider globally. Its services include: e-commerce and omnichannel order fulfillment and distribution; returns management (reverse logistics); cold chain logistics; supply chain optimization and warehousing services, such as order personalization, engineered packaging and inventory tracking. 
XPO's contract logistics customers operate in retail, e-commerce, technology, aerospace, telecom, food and beverage, healthcare, agriculture and infrastructure.
XPO Direct is a shared-space distribution network for omnichannel retail and e-commerce customers. XPO Direct enables customers to share or rent parts of distribution centers to store their products. XPO warehouses and last mile hubs serve as stockholding sites and cross-docks utilized by multiple customers at the same time. Algorithms analyze customer data to identify patterns in consumer behavior and seasonality.
Technology.
XPO spends $500–$550 million a year on software development, automation and technological hardware. XPO employs 1,800 IT professionals, including 100 data scientists, working on automation and intelligent machines, forecasting demand, predictive analytics, pricing algorithms, workforce planning, load and route optimization, customer service and its digital freight marketplace. In 2018, XPO began executing its plan to deploy 5,000 goods-to-person robots and collaborative robots ("cobots") to improve fulfillment time, increase productivity and manage peak holiday season volume in warehouses throughout North America and Europe. In its LTL network, XPO Logistics uses machine learning and predictive analytics to improve pricing algorithms and network productivity.
In 2019, XPO Logistics was the first global logistics company to join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Industrial Liaison Program, a partnership organization that pairs MIT resources with corporations worldwide to solve global business challenges.
In 2020, XPO Logistics and Nestlé opened a joint-venture "warehouse of the future" in Leicestershire, U.K. The distribution center serves as a “testbed” for new technologies for the logistics space.
Other technology initiatives include:
Tour de France.
In July 2019, XPO was awarded a contract extension through 2024 to be the official transport and logistics partner of the Tour de France. XPO Logistics has handled logistics for the annual Tour de France bicycle race since 1981. XPO also manages logistics for other major events in France, including the French Soccer Cup, the Evian Golf Championship and the Paris Marathon. In 2019, XPO Logistics released a mobile game app called XPO Moves the Tour to simulate how drivers and proprietary logistics technology support the Tour de France.