FedEx

Quick Take

FedEx's corporate PAC gave $706,000 to federal candidates in the 2023-2024 cycle, spread across both parties: its giving to House candidates was nearly even, while its Senate giving leaned more Republican. The company's deeper political identity came from its founder, Fred Smith, a decorated Vietnam veteran who built FedEx on principles he traced to the Marine Corps, gave mostly to Republicans while occasionally backing moderate Democrats, and appeared alongside President Trump at a 2018 White House event. Smith died on June 21, 2025, at age 80, and the company is now led by CEO Raj Subramaniam.

Where the Money Goes

FedEx maintains an active corporate political action committee that ranks among the larger ones in the transportation sector. In the 2023-2024 election cycle the FedEx Corp PAC contributed $706,000 directly to federal candidates, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by OpenSecrets, splitting that money 53.97 percent to Republicans and 45.40 percent to Democrats. The tilt varied by chamber: the PAC's House giving was close to even, while its Senate giving leaned more heavily Republican. It spread money across leadership and committee members of both parties, giving to figures as far apart as Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Republican Speaker Mike Johnson.

FedEx's lobbying tells a more pointed story than its candidate giving. The company is a consistent and substantial federal lobbying spender, and its priorities track its business almost exactly: FAA reauthorization and aviation policy, US Postal Service matters, trade and tariffs, truck parking, and worker-classification rules that determine whether drivers are treated as employees or contractors. For a company that competes directly with the Postal Service and depends on aviation and trade rules, those fights matter more to the bottom line than partisan alignment does, and the lobbying record reflects issues rather than ideology.

The Founder's Politics

For most of its history FedEx was inseparable from Fred Smith, and his personal politics are part of how the company is understood. Smith served two tours in Vietnam as a Marine officer, earning the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts, and he often said FedEx's operating culture came from the Marine Corps rather than from his Yale education. His documented political giving over the years went mostly to Republicans, including Mitt Romney, John Kasich, and Jeb Bush, though he also crossed the aisle to support moderate Democrats such as Senators Jon Tester and Heidi Heitkamp. He appeared at a 2018 White House ceremony with President Trump.

These are the documented activities of the company's founder as an individual, framed here as his own record rather than as current corporate positions. Smith stepped back from the CEO role in 2022 and served as executive chairman until his death on June 21, 2025. Reporting on his death noted his long practice of low-profile philanthropy, including gifts to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation and institutions in Memphis.

Leadership and Finances

FedEx is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FDX. Raj Subramaniam became president and CEO in 2022, succeeding Smith, and leads the company through a multiyear cost-reduction effort branded DRIVE. For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2025, FedEx reported revenue of $87.9 billion and net income of $4.09 billion. The company returned $4.3 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends during fiscal 2025; following the June 2026 spin-off of its freight business, FedEx now describes its continuing operations as a roughly $92 billion annual-revenue company, a figure that reflects the reorganized post-spin business rather than year-over-year growth. It continues to compete directly with UPS, Amazon's growing in-house logistics network, and the US Postal Service. FedEx is also in the middle of changing its fiscal year end from May 31 to December 31, a transition that took effect in mid-2026 and produces a one-time short reporting period before the company moves to calendar-year reporting.

Recent News

In June 2025, FedEx announced the death of its founder and executive chairman, Fred Smith, an event the company marked in its quarterly earnings release. A year later, on June 1, 2026, FedEx completed the spin-off of FedEx Freight, its less-than-truckload trucking business, into a separate publicly traded company that now trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FDXF. FedEx distributed about 80 percent of the new company's shares to its stockholders and retained a 19.9 percent stake it plans to dispose of within two years. The separation lets investors value the trucking business independently from FedEx's express and ground parcel operations.

Where to Find Them

FedEx serves customers through fedex.com, thousands of FedEx Office and drop-off locations, and pickup services, reaching businesses and consumers in more than 220 countries and territories. Its core services span express air, ground parcel, freight, and logistics.

Footnotes

[1] OpenSecrets, FedEx Corp PAC Contributions to Federal Candidates (C00068692), 2023-2024 cycle, accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/fedex-corp/C00068692/candidate-recipients/2024

[2] OpenSecrets, FedEx Corp Federal Lobbying Profile, accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/fedex-corp/lobbying?id=d000000089

[3] FedEx Corp, SEC Form 8-K, Fourth Quarter and Full-Year Fiscal 2025 Results, filed June 24, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001048911/000104891125000005/fdx-earningsreleasefy2025q4.htm

[4] CNBC, "FedEx beats earnings estimates, forecasts $1 billion cost savings in the next fiscal year," June 24, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/24/fedex-fdx-q4-2025-earnings.html

[5] Fortune, "FedEx CEO Fred Smith Blames Trump, Other Politicians for Slowing Economy," December 19, 2018. https://fortune.com/2018/12/19/fedex-ceo-fred-smith-trump-politicians-slowing-economy/

[6] NPR / Associated Press, "FedEx founder Fred Smith, who revolutionized package delivery, dies at 80," June 22, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/22/nx-s1-5441684/fedex-founder-fred-smith-who-revolutionized-package-delivery-dies-at-80

[7] NBC News / Associated Press, "FedEx founder Fred Smith dies" (AP obituary supporting the 1973 operations date and Smith's 2023 remark that running FedEx came from the Marines, not Yale), June 22, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fedex-founder-fred-smith-dies-rcna214338

[7] FedEx Corp, "FedEx Completes Spin-Off of FedEx Freight," company newsroom, June 1, 2026. https://newsroom.fedex.com/newsroom/global-english/fedex-completes-spin-off-of-fedex-freight