FedEx shares jump 102% as CEO Subramaniam delivers $2B in savings
Raj Subramaniam has overseen a massive stock rally since taking over the $75 billion shipping giant, rewarding investors who backed his aggressive cost-cutting and strategic overhaul.
FedEx shares have surged 102% since Raj Subramaniam took the helm in 2022, outperforming the S&P 500 by 28 points. The $75 billion delivery company is now on track to save $2 billion this year alone, double its initial target.
The financial performance validates a broad strategic revamp under the only second CEO in the company’s 50-year history, succeeding founder Frederick W. Smith. Subramaniam has reshaped the operating model, expanded the e-commerce business, and pushed global supply chain data to the core of FedEx's operations. He also successfully steered the company through the pandemic-era e-commerce boom during his prior tenure as president and chief operating officer.
That operational discipline contrasts sharply with an unorthodox entry into the corporate ranks. In 1991, Subramaniam was completing his MBA at the University of Texas at Austin during a brutal recession that pushed unemployment above 7%. Despite holding advanced scientific degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Syracuse University, he struggled to find a break.
The opportunity came when a roommate decided to move back to India and declined an interview call from FedEx. “I immediately picked up the phone and said, ‘Give me the number,’ and I called over and said, ‘You just talked to my roommate, but he doesn’t want to do the interview, but I am still here. Can I send you my resume?’” Subramaniam recalled.
That initiative launched a three-decade climb from the lowest levels of the Memphis-based organization. His ascent was built on a willingness to accept complex international assignments, including overseeing marketing across the Asia-Pacific region from Hong Kong.
“Pretty much every job that I’ve gotten—maybe with the exception of one or so—was somebody [who] said, ‘Yep, I want you to do this,’” Subramaniam said. He noted that he only began considering the chief executive role after taking over as regional president of FedEx Canada in 2003. “When I was in a senior role, I realized, ‘Oh, this is starting to look pretty interesting now,’” he said.
For investors tracking executive succession, Subramaniam’s trajectory from opportunistic junior employee to a driver of massive shareholder value serves as a notable case study. As he noted of the top job: “There’s a lot of stress and sacrifice that goes with it.”
