UPS & FedEx Losing DHL As Competition Via Layoffs (UPS, FDX)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Fedex_logoUps_logoDHL has announced that it was cutting 9,500 jobs as it discontinues air and ground operations within the United States.  DHL Express says that it will continue to operate between the United States and other nations, but it is killing the "domestic-only" air and ground services within the United States by January 30.  Despite an obvious slowdown, United Parcel Services, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) and FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) are probably happy as clams over this announcement.

The company is shutting down all ground hubs and reducing its number ofstations to 103 from 412.  This latest announcement of 9,500 job cutsis on top of 5,400 terminations this year.  The company believes itwill have 3,000 to 4,000 workers after the firings have been effected.

United Parcel Services, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) shares are up 4.8% at $54.43on about 1.2 million shares and its 52-week trading range is $43.32 to$75.82.

FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) shares are up 3.5% at $66.85 on almost400,000 shares and its 52-week trading range is $53.90 to $102.84.

Bad news at one shop is often great news for competitors.  This is alsothe sort of PR that may actually drive business to UPS or FedEx eventhe international side of the operations.  Customers hate uncertaintyin suppliers and service providers.  Think of it as counterparty riskmanagement.

Jon C. Ogg
November 10, 2008

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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