BURRELLE'S/VMS NewsAlert Service
75 East Northfield Road/ Livingston, NJ / 973-992-6600
SOURCE: CNN Interactive
SUPPLIER: World Wide Web
DATE: 09-30-98
TIME: 17:00
HEADLINE: Annual Meeting - FDX Owners Vote, Close In Half-Hour
The Commercial Appeal Memphis, TN
FDX Corp.'s first annual meeting Monday bore a strong resemblance to previous FedEx gatherings as chairman Frederick W. Smith presided over a quick, carefully scripted event.
During the 30-minute meeting at the Memphis Marriott, owners re- elected Smith, J. R. 'Pitt' Hyde III, Judith L. Estrin and Philip Greer to FDX's board, approved a new stock incentive plan and rejected a stockholder proposal that would have required board members to stand for re-election annually instead of their staggered, three-year terms.
After the meeting, Smith gave an upbeat overview of FDX Corp. and subsidiaries FedEx, RPS, Viking, Roberts Express and Caliber Logistics. He insisted that they will remain separate entities.
"FedEx will continue to focus on what makes it great," he said of the Memphis-based transportation giant, which has more than 30,000 area employees. "RPS will continue to provide highly efficient, reliable ground transportation.
"The companies must be managed separately," he said. "If you try to combine them, one set of needs has to have priority."
FDX Corp. was formed in January as the parent organization for FedEx, RPS and the other ground transportation companies. A small group of executives at FDX set strategy for each business unit.
"It's the role of FDX to combine the synergies," Smith said.
Despite sustained turmoil in Asia and other foreign markets, Smith predicted a bright future for international commerce. FedEx's global network is mostly in place and provides quicker, more reliable deliveries of high-value international goods than thought possible a few years ago.
"We cannot lose sight of the global opportunities before us," Smith said. "We remain optimistic." About 200 people attended the meeting including dozens of FedEx employees who were here when the startup company invented the overnight package-delivery industry in April 1973. Of 389 FedEx employees on the payroll then, 124 remain on the job.
At the time, FedEx had 14 airplanes that flew to 25 cities. Today, the company has the largest fleet of cargo aircraft in the world with more than 300 jets, and it serves more than 200 countries.
In other company news, FDX Corp.'s proxy statement showed that:
-- Smith is the largest individual FDX shareholder with 10.2 million shares of common stock valued at more than $500 million.
-- Smith was the highest-paid FDX Corp. worker in fiscal 1998 with $927,912 in salary, $875,000 in bonus, $227,688 in other compensation and $1.2 million in payouts from stock incentives.
-- FedEx president and chief executive Theodore L. Weise received $665,322 in salary, $497,831 in bonus, $491,888 in other compensation and $437,035 in stock incentives.
-- FDX Corp. directors receive $40,000 annually as well as options for 2,000 shares of company stock, $2,000 for each board meeting they attend and a retirement plan. FDX directors include Smith, Hyde, Estrin, Greer and Robert H. Allen, Robert L. Cox, Paul S. Walsh, Peter S. Willmott, Ralph D. DeNunzio, Charles T. Manatt, George J. Mitchell, Jackson W. Smart Jr. and Joshua I. Smith.
To reach reporter Dave Hirschman, call 529-5874 or E-mail DHirsch@ix.netcom.com
(Copyright 1998)
|
