The multiyear decline in the financial fortunes of U.S. Xpress are coming to an end with the announcement Tuesday that the truckload carrier is being bought by Knight-Swift at a significant premium to the company’s Monday closing stock price.
In one of the largest truckload carrier sales in history, Knight-Swift (NYSE: KNX) said it is paying $808 million for U.S. Xpress (NYSE: USX).
In the joint prepared news release announcing the deal, the companies said U.S. Xpress will add about $2.2 billion in total revenue to Knight-Swift, with about $1.8 billion of that being in truckload. It will also add 7,200 tractors and 14,400 trailers to Knight-Swift.
Following the deal, Knight-Swift said its consolidated revenue run rate would be close to $10 billion and the truckload fleet will be at about 25,000 tractors and 93,000 trailers. Knight-Swift reported full-year 2022 revenue of $7.42 billion in 2022, including fuel surcharge revenue.
U.S. Xpress will continue to operate under that name as a division inside the company, according to the prepared statement.
U.S. Xpress in the last few years has struggled even in the midst of a freight market that picked up steam rapidly after the first ugly months of the pandemic in 2020 and didn’t slow down for two years. While many other truckload carriers were reporting record earnings, U.S. Xpress struggled to keep its operating ratio at less than 100%.
FreightWaves will continue to report on this story over the course of the day.
Disclosure: FreightWaves founder and CEO Craig Fuller retains ownership of U.S. Xpress shares through his family trust.
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